NUJ calls on the United Nations to condemn persecution of journalists at BBC News Persian
The NUJ has urged the UN to condemn the Iranian state's use of extreme language regarding the BBC’s reporting and the country’s justification of its unlawful actions towards the corporation’s staff and their families.
Lawyers for the BBC World Service have lodged a document with the UN asking its experts to condemn Iran’s conduct towards the BBC and the country’s attempts to frame independent journalism as a form of terrorism and warfare.
The submission includes a request for further information from Iran about legal action against the BBC. It urges the UN to raise concern over the characterisation of BBC journalism as “media terrorism” or “soft war” and the abuse of national security and counter-terrorism laws to target and harass journalists and their families.
It comes in response to Iran claiming in September that BBC News Persian has been “trying to target the security of the country by influencing the beliefs, culture, politics and behaviour of society” and that the outlet has been engaged in “media warfare”. It made the accusation in an official filing to the UN after the intergovernmental organisation sent a formal communication in August to Iran, asking for a response to UN experts’ concerns about the allegations of Iran’s unlawful conduct towards BBC journalists and their families, which violates international law.
Iran’s justification followed the BBC filing an urgent appeal with the UN in June over an increased escalation in the targeting and harassment of BBC News Persian journalists in the UK since the beginning of the year. In August the BBC gave another update after an alarming increase in the intimidation in the wake of BBC News Persian (which is part of the BBC World Service) reporting on the Iran-Israel conflict.
The BBC World Service has been in contact with the UN over the protection of its Iranian journalists and their families since 2017 after Iran launched a national security criminal investigation into 152 BBC staff and former staff, along with an asset freeze against all of their assets in Iran, including those owned jointly with family members. A number of BBC News Persian journalists have since been convicted in absentia in Iran for their reporting.
Laura Davison, NUJ general secretary, said:
“The UN must condemn the escalating intimidation and persecution of media workers by the Iranian state. Journalists at BBC Persian are paying a huge personal price simply for doing their job. For over a decade Iranian authorities have attempted to terrorise journalists and stymie reporting - including through threats, travel bans, passport confiscations, arbitrary interrogations, proxy punishments against family members, and even attempts to hire criminals to harm them on UK soil.
“It takes enormous courage and the deepest sense of duty for a journalist to continue pursuing the truth in the face of relentless state repression. The NUJ stands in solidarity with journalists under threat and demands an end to the Iranian state’s campaign against press freedom and journalists’ rights.
“The NUJ also calls on the BBC and the UK government to demonstrate their commitment to BBC Persian and the World Service by re-establishing full funding so that journalists have the resources and support needed to continue serving audiences around the world with independent, impartial, trusted news.”
Tarik Kafala, BBC World Service Middle East and North Africa regional director, said:
“The extreme, highly alarming language the Islamic Republic of Iran has used in an official government filings with the UN demonstrates the Iranian authorities’ attitude towards independent journalism and our reporting of the country. We are deeply concerned that, instead of putting an end to the harassment and threats to our staff and their families in Iran, with this language Iran signals new forms of targeting them, now justifying their persecution with counter-terrorism and national security laws. We condemn these actions.”