BBC complains to UN over staff harassment by Iran

British broadcaster complained of escalating security concerns amid threats and targeting of relatives in Iran

The BBC says harassment of its staff has continued since President Ebrahim Raisi took office in Iran. EPA

The BBC has filed an urgent complaint to the UN over Iran’s continued harassment of staff working on its Persian news service.

The broadcaster said it had seen “escalating security concerns” with Iran conducting unlawful, extraterritorial operations against journalists and dissidents.

Iran has harassed BBC News Persian journalists and their families for more than a decade, with staff unable to return to the country for fear of arrest, it said.

Family members have been banned from travelling and detained. Previous threats reported by the corporation have included a staffer receiving a doctored photo showing her mother covered in blood and a death threat to a journalist warning they would be “skinned alive”.

The harassment has continued under new Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, said the BBC.

Liliane Landor, senior controller of BBC News International Services, said: “We appeal to the UN and the international community to continue to condemn Iran for their unacceptable treatment of our BBC News Persian colleagues.”

Iran's campaign against BBC Persian started in earnest during the 2009 Iranian presidential election when the regime tried to jam the channel’s satellite broadcasts.

In 2017, Iranian authorities launched a criminal investigation into 152 current and former BBC Persian journalists, accusing them of conspiracy against national security and freezing their assets.

The harassment of staff intensified when journalists covered the bloody purge of those who had participated in mass anti-government protests in November 2019.

BBC News Persian reaches a weekly global audience of about 19 million people weekly including about 13 million in Iran.