The unprecedented “collective punishment” of journalists, which she described as a “jurisprudential dragnet capturing everyone in its net”.‘Iran is using the long arm of state to try to silence people’īarrister Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC, of Doughty Street Chambers, said: “We all know that harassing journalists and accusing them of espionage or terrorism simply for doing their job is not a new tactic.”īut, she said there were three reasons why the BBC Persian case is different. Last year, a fake news story accused BBC Persian of being a terrorist-funded organisation working against Iran. Simpson said he himself has not been allowed back to Iran since 2009, adding: “There has been a closed mind in Tehran.” “What the government of Iran has done has been really pretty depressing – I have been aware of it for years.” Without freedom there’s always some sort of limitation on true and good and honest journalism. He added: “Freedom is the atmosphere in which proper, decent, good journalism thrives. World affairs editor John Simpson described what is happening to the BBC Persian service as “one of the worst things that a nation has done to free speech in recent times”. The corporation appealed to the United Nations for the first time in its history in March last year over the harassment of BBC Persian staff. ‘Freedom’ is essential for good journalism Rahimpour has shared her story as the BBC attempts to raise awareness of the plight of its journalists among the wider public. Later, both of her parents were subjected to a year-long travel ban which meant they couldn’t visit her newborn child in the UK. Her father was interrogated for several hours in 2013 by Iranian authorities who were looking for information about her and her husband and where they lived in the UK. She said: “I thought I won’t be pressured or coerced because they can’t get to us anymore and we can report whatever needs to be reported, but little did we know they wouldn’t leave us alone – and not just us, but also our families.” Rahimpour left Iran to join BBC Persian – her “dream job” – in 2008, believing that she would be able to report freely on her native country from abroad. “We think one of these days it’s going to be us standing there and mourning, not being able to go and see our relatives.” Every time a parent dies we get together with the BBC to help each other go through it – they cannot go out there to mourn. Rana Rahimpour, a well-known face on BBC Persian, said: “We are living in a daily nightmare. She had to reassure him that the story wasn’t true.Some 45 said their parents had been questioned or interrogated by Iranian authorities, 40 said the same of brothers or sisters and 47 said the same of friends. They took personal photos of her holding a friend’s baby from social media and showed her father as “proof”. One colleague of mine was subjected to a fake story that she had been raped by a colleague and had given birth to a child. Now, increasingly the attacks include the spreading of highly misogynistic and false stories in state media. It was designed to force us into leaving the BBC. It deprived us and our families of property, including the ability to sell or rent assets. In 2017 Iran imposed financial sanctions on 152 BBC News Persian current and former staff, freezing our assets in Iran. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has a hardline stance against the West but recently said the country would free ‘around 10,000 prisoners’ in an amnesty to mark Nowruz, Iranian New Year (Photo: Khamenei.ir/AFP) We missed many funerals, the last chance to say goodbye and to hold their hands. Parents have died over Skype, which due to the pandemic, tragically became a familiar experience for the rest of the world, but for us, it was not a virus that took that right away, it was the Iranian government. Not being able to return to Iran without fear of arrest means missing out on precious time with loved ones. My colleagues have also suffered greatly. My elderly father cried on the phone when he told me he could not come to London. Both my parents were put under a travel ban in 2013 for over a year – they could not visit us or even meet their first grandchild. They threatened to cut his pension and said that they would confiscate his passport unless I gave up my job.
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