report 1402

3 May 2024

Midpoint School of Journalism has documented 226 cases of persecution against Iranian journalists in the last year, including instances of arbitrary summons, interrogations, arrests, physical assaults, expulsions and security threats.

Midpoint’s findings reveal that some of the most contentious issues that journalists have reported on, often resulting in particularly harsh scrutiny and censorship from Iranian authorities, include discrimination against women, the enforcement of the hijab, economic struggles, polls on elections, and significant security incidents such as the Kerman explosions.

The report includes cases that occurred during the Persian calendar year from 21 March 2023 to 21 March 2024. By March 2024, at least six journalists were in prison, but many more had pending court cases or had been banned from the profession. Significantly, journalists' public stories on social networks, and reports of organizations supporting journalists have been collected, studied, categorized, and analyzed. But it is believed that many cases of summons, threats, arrests and pressure on journalists in 2023-2024 have not been made public, and thus are not included in this report.

We have compiled the list of journalists and media outlets that were targets of repression over the past year, categorized their initial accusations, identified—to the extent possible—the institutions and authorities that have been involved, and have categorized the information obtained under the headings of location, gender, and method of repression.

In this report, we have recorded cases of repression that happened in 2023-2024. The cases of many journalists who were summoned, arrested and imprisoned in previous years, and whose legal troubles continued in the following year, were not included in this report. These encounters have collectively affected the lives of hundreds of Iranian journalists and their families and have significantly infringed on the citizens' right to access information.

Forms of repression against journalists and media

In 2023-2024, Midpoint recorded more than 226 cases of repression of journalists and media. Among these, 193 cases have specifically targeted a journalist or a media manager, 54 of which were women and 139 of which were men, and in one case the identity of the concerned person has not been disclosed. In 32 other cases, a group of journalists or a media outlet have been targeted, and in some cases, a censorship directive has been issued collectively to all media outlets across Iran.

Also, in 2023-2024, several cases of arresting citizen-journalists were reported. They have been arrested for the publication of news or videos; but the status of their cases is not recorded in this report.

Our monitoring shows that at least 102 journalists were tried or arrested last year. 42 journalists and media managers have been summoned or legal complaints have been filed against them. Meanwhile, 18 journalists have been fired or forced to leave their jobs.

Eight newspapers and news websites have either faced the pressure of government advertisement cuts or have been temporarily or permanently closed. Also, 19 cases of physical attacks, beatings or even shooting with guns have been recorded against journalists and media activists.

Some bodyguards of state officials have clashed with reporters to prevent them from raising questions. Even during the Iranian President's visit to the UN headquarters in New York, acts of physical violence and snatching of a reporter's cell phone were recorded - an action that could lead to prosecution in the United States. In Iran, only some physical encounters and attacks by bodyguards against journalists are reported in the media.

Midpoint has recorded 35 cases of threats and intimidating phone calls to the journalists or preventing their entry, with the purpose of censoring them and obstructing the flow of information. Often, the media is strictly told not to disclose these calls and threats, and many of these cases remain unreported.

Iranian authorities were primarily concerned about media reporting on discrimination against women and hijab issues in 2023-2024

To prevent media outlets from revealing the reasons for withholding vital information, they have been directed to not only keep unofficial calls and threats confidential, but also official directives, including those from the Supreme National Security Council. Courts may summon media managers for trial if they disclose these.

The results of the Midpoint monitoring show that in 2023-2024 the biggest concern of the Islamic Republic authorities regarding the media was related to their reporting on discrimination against women and hijab. The publication of information about the death of Armita Gravand [a young girl allegedly killed while in detention in Tehran subway for not wearing hijab], the poisoning of school girls, poverty, suicide, polls about the elections, the announcement of the dollar price in the market, and the explosions in Kerman, has been strictly controlled, and—in many cases—prohibited, except in specific state-affiliated media outlets. In these cases, confidential directives and decrees were sent to the media managers, barring them from publishing any information on these topics. This restriction was so pervasive and severe in the case of the Kerman explosion terror attack, that one of the editors of Iran’s state broadcaster announced that a member of the Supreme National Security Council asked him via a phone call not to cover the news of the explosion.

Besides arrests and summons, another method of applying pressure and censorship is to cut government advertisements from newspapers that are economically dependent on such revenue. Through informal directives and calls, the media have been told not to publish “disappointing” news and critique of the state. In 2023-2024, the government advertisements of at least three media outlets and newspapers were cut due to their critical reportage, and two other newspapers stopped operating and publishing as a result of the interruption of advertisements and economic constraints.

Masih Mohajeri, the editor-in-chief of the state affiliated Jomhouri-e-Eslami newspaper, announced last December that the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has cut government advertisements of this newspaper "due to their critical positions." The Jomhouri-e-Eslami paper has taken a critical look at the policies of President Raeesi’s government and has repeatedly called for his resignation. Editors of Jomhouri-e-Eslami say that they did not comply with the "uncultured" requests of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, and for this reason, the Ministry has stopped advertisements for the second time. According to the newspaper's editor-in-chief, the officials of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance of the current government "do not know about the media'' and therefore "do not accept any criticism and think that the media should be at the disposal of their goals."

In spite of the political support it enjoys, Jomhouri-e-Eslami , owned by Ali Khamenei, asked its reporters in different provinces to attract new sources of advertisement to ensure the paper's survival.

The geographical scope of repression

ranian provinces where cases of repression have been registered

ranian provinces where cases of repression have been registered

Added pressure on journalists outside the capital

Midpoint's findings show that most of the violent physical encounters, including torture, flogging, shootings and attacks on journalists' houses and arrests of family members, took place in provinces other than Tehran.

In Kermanshah, Vahid Shadman, a news photographer and head of the Qasr-e Shirin Photographers Association, has published pictures of his bruised and wounded body, which show the effects of torture during interrogation in 2022.

Most violent physical encounters happen against journalists outside of Tehran.

In Gilan, Sajjad Rostamzadeh, the editor of Masal News, was taken to an addiction rehabilitation camp for publishing a report about waste recycling in the northern Gilan province of Masal, after his house was searched. He was eventually arrested and tested for addiction. The result was negative.

The family home of Peyman Behboodi, the manager of the Telegram channel forRadio Gilan , who is outside of Iran, was searched and his two nieces were arrested following the publication of a series of reports about the alleged sexual misconduct of the director of the Gilan Guidance Department.

A journalist was taken to an addiction rehabilitation camp for reporting on waste recycling. Another journalist’s nieces were arrested for his reporting on an official’s sexual misconduct.

Percentage Breakdown of Persecuted Journalists Across Iranian Provinces

In the Alborz province, independent journalist Omid Faraghat was banned from social media for two years by the order of a prosecutor while an investigation against him was ongoing, before a trial could even commence on the matter.

In several cases, journalists across Iran have been sentenced to severe unusual penalties, such as "participation in professional ethics courses on a quarterly basis", "prohibition of socializing with foreign journalists" and "obligation to participate in behavioral and knowledge management courses".

Parisa Salehi is one of the journalists who, in addition to one year in prison and a two-year ban on leaving the country or using the Internet, was also sentenced to two years of exile to the city of Zanjan in northwestern Iran. She was born in Zanjan but has been living with her family in Alborz province for many years. Responding to her question "why exile and why exile to Zanjan?," the judge of the Karaj Revolutionary Court, wrote: "To be guided and reformed under the supervision of the elders of the family," she said.

Some other examples of repressions outside the capital:

In Mazandaran province in Northern Iran, a six-month prison sentence for a journalist and writer was changed to forced labor on a farm for Kelardasht prisoners.
In the city of Qazvin in central Iran, the mother of a reporter was tried and sentenced to forced labor for protesting the sentence of her son. She is sentenced to do five hours of free work a day in a welfare center for women with mental disabilities.
In the southern city of Bushehr, a reporter for Darya Kenar magazine was beaten with a shovel for criticizing a village council member.
In Golestan province in northern Iran, a journalist was summoned and warned about writing a report inTurkmen News about a car accident that occurred as a result of insufficient lighting on his street.
In Arak city in Markazi province in central Iran, a journalist was sentenced to prison and 74 lashes in public in the city mosque for attending the commemoration ceremony of one of the victims of the 2022 protests.
In Khuzestan province, the manager of a media outlet was shot and died as a result.
Four media activists were shot in Kohgiluyeh and Boyar Ahmad province in western Iran.

Subjects covered by journalists that triggered persecution

According to Midpoint’s media monitoring efforts, in 2023-2024, although the reasons for summoning, arresting and suppressing journalists are very diverse, these encounters can be categorized into seven sections: women and hijab, political and security, economic, cultural, sports, social, and undisclosed cases.

However, many accusations and reasons for detention and interrogation remain unclear. Informed legal sources in Iran told Midpoint: “Lawyers know that when a prosecutor files a case against someone, it means that the accusation is clear and the person will be summoned as a defendant or at least an informed witness in a judicial procedure. But when a security agency interrogates or threatens a person, the charge is not very clear and the interrogator intends to deal with that person before filing a court case.”

Repression due to coverage of women’s issues and hijab

Midpoint's findings show that in 2023-2024, the issue of hijab and issues related to sexual discrimination against women have significantly increased the sensitivity of the judicial and security institutions, and for this reason, many journalists have been summoned, detained and forced to remain silent.

The editor-in-chief of Shargh newspaper was summoned to the court due to the publication of the results of a poll indicating that the majority of people were against the mandatory hijab and the "Hijab and Chastity" bill. He was also summoned to the court due to the publication of the Ministry of Interior's directive about “hijab watchers” i.e. agents that police women’s dress codes in the streets, on the basis that this directive was confidential.

One of the journalists of Shargh newspaper also faced a lawsuit for writing and publishing a report about how the security forces ill-treated women in the Azadi Football Stadium.

However, most instances of censorship or persecution of journalists when relating to comments on hijab-related issues or protests is with respect to their social media posts.

Behrouz Behzadi, the editor-in-chief of Etemad newspaper, said in an interview that during the protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of Morality Police patrol, they were not allowed to publish articles and photos about this issue: “As the person responsible for the paper, I had to both protect the paper and offer an acceptable output to our audience.”

According to Mr. Behzadi, Etemad was forced to publish the opinions of experts and analysts without publishing the original news. However, this newspaper has been sued for publishing experts' opinions "more than 40 times" in 2023-2024.

Repression due to political and security issues

The main reason behind the security and judicial repression of many journalists in 2023-2024 was their criticism of the leader of the Islamic Republic, the government, Parliament, the security forces and the way the elections were held. After the explosions in Kerman on January 3, 2024, journalists were not allowed to make critical comments, and some of them were summoned and arrested for this reason. One of the photographers present at the scene said that he was not even allowed to take pictures.

Reporting on elections in March 2024 has been an issue for journalists and the media—journalists were not allowed to include any criticism in their reporting, including themes like corruption and low voter turnouts. In one case, the Khabar Online outlet was asked to remove from its website a report on the results of an official government body’s poll about the elections.

Repression due to unknown or undisclosed reasons

The reasons for many cases of arbitrary summons, complaints and arrests of journalists or persecution of media outlets in 2023-2024 were not explained to them, nor did journalists have the opportunity and security guarantees to announce the reasons for these encounters. For this reason, we have categorized these as “unknown or undisclosed”. Many accusations against journalists and the media are not made public, and journalists are not allowed to discuss the reason for the summons after being questioned.

In one case, the journalists of Fardaye Eghtesad were imprisoned and some were temporarily detained in the newsroom. The reason for this unprecedented move was not announced.

Repression due to economic and social issues

A significant part of judicial or security encounters with journalists and media have been due to reportage on sensitive economic and social issues. Among the economic issues, reporting on corruption, exposing cases of corruption and criticizing Iran’s financial and monetary authorities have been contentious, and among social issues, reporting on the topics of authorities misconduct, poverty and environmental problems has been a cause for concern for the authorities.

The government has sent a series of letters to the media, ordering them not to tarnish the reputation of the state through reporting on negative issues.

In a series of letters, the Supreme Council of Information Communication Technology of Iran, a government body empowered by President Raeesi as another censorship mechanism, ordered the media outlets, rather broadly, not to engage in Siyahnamayi (i.e. not to tarnish the reputation of the Islamic Republic by highlighting negative issues in their reporting), but examples of such slander have not been identified. In some cases, newspapers have been told not to write about "suicide due to poverty." Also, the media have been told that they are not allowed to announce the dollar price in the open market.

Last March, the Criminal Court of the city of Sirjan in central Iran sentenced journalist Kimia Fathizadeh to a fine, six months in prison and a two-year ban on working as a journalist on charges of "publishing lies" and criticizing the "corruption of a member of Parliament"."Tarnishing the image of officials and the state and disrupting people's mental security in cyberspace" were also among the charges.

Repression due to cultural and artistic issues

On cultural, artistic and sports related topics, mostly individuals, sports clubs and government institutions have complained against a newspaper or a reporter on the charge of "spreading lies".

In Alborz province, the Department of Sports and Youth complained against Mustafa Faraghat for a critical tweet in which he wrote about the gift of a kettle and teapot by the Mohammad Shahr City Council to a woman who won a medal in the Asian Games.

Persecuting entities

According to Midpoint's findings, security institutions, government agencies and the judiciary have been the main institutions pressuring and threatening the media.

In many cases, it is difficult to distinguish between the security institutions and the judiciary, because the security institutions cooperate closely with the judiciary and jointly file cases to prosecute journalists. However, based on what has been reported, most cases of initial encounter and summons and complaints are from the security institutions respectively (81 cases), followed by government institutions (43 cases) and judiciary (40 cases).

In more than 16 cases, it was not announced which institution was responsible for cautioning or prosecuting either the journalist or the media outlet.

Following the removal of the temporary ban of Rooydad 24 news website, Farhad Farzad, the editor-in-chief of the outlet wrote on his Twitter that an "unknown entity behind the curtain" blocked this website and warned them, without revealing his identity or accepting responsibility for this, that if they continue to publish "critical content" they will be banned permanently.

In addition to judicial and security encounters, 27 cases of physical assault, complaints, and threats were mounted by both individuals and organizations against journalists, including bodyguards of officials, Parliamentarians, members of city and village councils, and semi-governmental companies.

Among the list of accusations, except for undisclosed cases, a majority included “publishing lies”, “propaganda against the state”, “disturbing the public peace”, and “defamation”.

In many cases, the charges against arrested or summoned journalists are not clear.

Conclusions

Midpoint's findings show that the control and limitation of information through threats and subpoenas are conveyed to journalists even before the publication of articles. At least six journalists were in prison by the end of March 2024, but many more have pending court cases or have been banned from the profession.

The Ministry of Intelligence, the Intelligence Protection Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Judiciary Protection and Intelligence Organization, Morality Police (Gasht-e Ershaad) and Cyber Police (FATA) are the main arms prosecution and persecution of journalists. In the last year, the government has also played a key role in restricting the publication of news through threats, complaints and directives of the Supreme Council of Information Communication Technology of Iran, framed as banning Siyahnamayi, "causing disappointments'' and "disrupting the public peace".

Journalists are either threatened with arrest, or their media's access to government advertisements are blocked, they are prevented from receiving advertisements from the private sector, and in all of these cases, they face the risk of shutting down their media outlet when the income from advertisements is cut off.

In the highly restricted environment of Iran's media, in cases where an expository report was published, media managers were summoned; For example, a report about the sale of body organs as a result of financial constraints and poverty in Jahan-e San’at; and another on an Interior Ministry directive regarding hijab watchers in Etemad, resulted in managers from both publications being summoned for prosecution.

The cases recorded in this report only include the crackdown on journalists during the Persian calendar year (March 21 2023 - March 21 2024), but many more who were previously summoned or arrested are still stuck pursuing justice in courtroom corridors, while the main tools of their work, such as computers and mobile phones or their passports, remain confiscated until a verdict is pronounced.

Many have given up working in the media or have been forced to leave the country, including two reporters of the state-affiliated Iran newspaper who applied for asylum during an assignment mission to Australia.

2023-2024 was one of the most difficult years for journalists in Iran, however, many of them have tried to fulfill their professional duties under threats and censorship.

The media was not allowed...