DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran detained the family members of an Iran International journalist Saturday in retaliation for the channel’s coverage of the country’s war with Israel, threatening to hold them until the journalist resigned from her position.
The London-based Farsi news channel said in a statement that it strongly condemns the abduction of its journalist’s family, calling it “an appalling act of hostage-taking aimed at coercing our colleague into resigning from their post.”
“This deeply reprehensible tactic marks a dangerous escalation in the regime’s ruthless campaign to silence dissent and suppress independent journalism,” the news channel said.
The detainment marks the latest example of Iran’s longstanding effort to crack down not only on Iranian journalists inside the country but also those abroad who still have family and friends living in Iran. The Islamic Republic is one of the world’s top jailer of journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, and in the best of times, reporters face strict restrictions.
The broadcaster said that Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards took the presenter’s mother, father and younger brother to an unidentified location. The journalist, whose name the outlet did not disclose, then received a phone call from her father early Saturday, urging her to resign from her role, according to Iran International. The voices of security agents could be heard in the background telling her father what to say.
“I’ve told you a thousand times to resign. What other consequences do you expect?” Iran International said her father told her. “You have to resign.”
Farsi-language broadcasters like Iran International and BBC Persia have long been targets for the Islamic Republic, given the fact that they broadcast in the native language and many Iranians, both domestically and abroad, rely on them for news, especially of the most recent Iran-Israel war amid an official internet blackout.
Iran International in particular has become a target of Tehran in recent years over its programming that is critical of the theocratic government in Tehran. The Iranian government has called the news outlet a terrorist organization. in an attack suspected to have been carried out by Iran, while to target others at the channel.
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