Brussels, 15 March 2019 - The IFJ has welcomed today's historic vote of the European Parliament to call for an end to the harassment and persecution of BBC Persian journalists and their families.
The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of a resolution criticising Iran’s treatment of human rights defenders, human rights lawyers and journalists. The resolution states that, “freedom of the press, both on and offline, freedom of association, and freedom of thought are repressed in Iran” and that “Iranian authorities have systematically targeted journalists, including those working for the BBC Persian service, and their families, through the use of criminal investigations, asset freezes, arbitrary arrest, detention, surveillance, harassment, and by spreading false, malicious, and defamatory publicity.” The resolution “demands that the authorities in Iran stop the surveillance, arrest, harassment, and prosecution of journalists, online activists, and their families, end online censorship, and calls for the creation of conditions which tolerate freedom of expression and freedom of the media both on and offline.”
The IFJ has campaigned alongside the BBC and human rights lawyers Doughty Street Chambers to end the persecution and last month jointly lobbied MEPs to urge them to table today's motion.
Speaking in the Parliament in Strasbourg, Jude Kirton-Darling MEP said that,...
“the Iranian authorities have been systematically targeting BBC Persian staff and are moving onto the staff of other European broadcasters as well… Many of those affected are EU/ Iranian dual nationals, mostly British Iranians.” She described how 152 staff have been subjected to an unfair asset freeze, and their families in Iran endure arbitrary arrest, travel bans and harassment. She added, “I would particularly like to raise awareness about the sexualised defamation campaigns being waged against brave female journalists at BBC Persian and I would call on the EU to no longer be silent about this attack on European women, European journalists. We have a duty and a responsibility to defend free journalism.”
The Joint Motion for a Resolution was supported by six political groups, including ECR (which includes Conservative MEPs from the UK), S&D (which includes Labour MEPs) and Verts/ ALE (which includes the Green Party). The full text, which was passed unamended, is available here.
Today’s motion is passed in the same week that Iran’s harassment of BBC Persian was raised before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, Professor Javaid Rehman. In his first report to the UNHRC, Rehman said he ‘’deplores’’ the harassment of BBC Persian staff. The UK in their address to the Council and the UK Permanent Representative to the UN also spoke in support of BBC Persian in Geneva at a side-event co-hosted by BBC Persian, the International Federation of Journalists and Doughty Street Chambers.
IFJ Deputy General Secretary Jeremy Dear said: "The persecution must stop. Condemned by the UN, the European Parliament and press freedom campaigners across the globe the Iranian government must halt the harassment, ditch the injunction, end the asset freeze and stop trying to silence independent media voices".
Michelle Stanistreet of the National Union of Journalists said: “The Iranian authorities have been systematically targeting BBC Persian journalists in the UK, and their families in Iran, since the service launched satellite television in 2009. Our campaign to stop the harassment will persist until the authorities stop targeting NUJ members for simply doing their jobs. Both the asset freeze and criminal investigations into the activities of journalists and other staff working for BBC Persian should be dropped.”
International counsel for the BBC World Service, Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC and Jennifer Robinson, welcomed the European Parliament’s passing of this resolution today, saying,“This is a historic day for BBC Persian: for the first time, the European Parliament has considered the harassment of BBC Persian staff and their families by Iran, and it has condemned this harassment in the strongest possible terms. We must remember that the Iranian authorities’ ongoing attacks on freedom of expression are not only devastating and damaging to the affected journalists and their loved ones. They also prevent audiences in Iran and around the world from having access to fair, full and independent reporting about matters of intense public interest. It is critical, now more than ever, that the international community takes action to protect freedom of expression in and concerning Iran.”
