Iran Issues Death Threats To UK-Based Journalists For Covering Protests
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Raven Ruma
- . November 8, 2022
- . Update: November 11, 2022 12:59 am
The security forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran have issued “credible” death threats to two British-Iranian journalists working in the United Kingdom (UK) for an independent Farsi-language channel.
Volant Media, the London-based broadcaster of Iran International TV channel, said in a statement that two of its journalists received “death threats from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)” for covering protests, ignited by the death of a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman.
The channel’s broadcaster said that this a “dangerous escalation” of attempts to suppress independent media. A spokesman for Volant Media reportedly said, “These are state-sponsored threats to journalists in the UK.” He further said, “IRGC cannot be allowed to silence a free press in the UK.”
Volant Media said that two journalists received formal “warnings of credible threats to their lives” from IRGC. London’s Metropolitan Police notified journalists of threats.
Read | New protests erupt in Iranian universities after the death of a student
Volant Media is covering the anti-regime and anti-hijab protests in the Islamic Republic following the death of Mahsa Amini for allegedly breaching strict dress rules for women.
According to rights groups, Amini was arrested by the Iranian morality police allegedly for wearing a loose hijab on September 13. They took her to the detention centre in Tehran. However, Amini collapsed at the detention centre. She was taken to the hospital for treatment as she was in a coma. The doctor pronounced her dead on September 16. Her family claimed that the Iranian morality police were responsible for her death.
Witnesses and rights groups said that the morality police beat her while taking her to the van. They also said that security forces hit Amini with a baton at the detention centre. Amini’s family said that she died because of a “violent blow to her head.” After her death, massive protests erupted across the country, especially in the Kurdish region.
