{"id":107837,"date":"2022-12-31T08:52:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-31T13:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/?p=107837"},"modified":"2022-12-31T08:52:00","modified_gmt":"2022-12-31T13:52:00","slug":"iran-threatens-hostile-western-media-over-protest-coverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/2022\/12\/31\/iran-threatens-hostile-western-media-over-protest-coverage\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran Threatens ‘Hostile’ Western Media Over Protest Coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A spokesperson for Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard threatened a \u201cregretful response\u201d to Western media outlets \u2014 including Voice of America \u2014 over their coverage of the mass protests.<\/p>\n

In a meeting with a special combat brigade on Wednesday, Ramezan Sharif, who is head of public relations for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or IRGC, described Persian-language foreign media outlets as \u201chostile.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spokesperson was cited by local media as saying social media is a \u201cweapon\u201d to manipulate the Iranian nation and described the media as \u201ctools of the enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharif went on to name independent news outlets that he claimed were \u201cmobilized to destroy\u201d Iran, including VOA, the BBC, Manoto TV and the London-based Iran International news network.<\/p>\n

His comments came after months of reporting on the anti-government protests sweeping Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who was detained in September.<\/p>\n

\n
\"A<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
SEE ALSO:<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Iranian Woman’s Death After Morals Police Arrest Sparks Protests<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cYou are wrong because now we have such control over you, and we will give each one of you a regretful response,\u201d Sharif said in remarks directed at the media.<\/p>\n

Iran has cracked down on opposition voices and the media over the protests.<\/p>\n

The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a nongovernmental organization that monitors human rights violations in Iran, estimates more than 18,000 people have been arrested since September, and at least 500 killed.<\/p>\n

Among those detained are dozens of journalists who reported on the protests.<\/p>\n

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists found that the country is the leading jailer of journalists, with more than 60 in custody, and a further 20 who were detained and later released on bail.<\/p>\n

\n
\"FILE<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
SEE ALSO:<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Record Number of Journalists Jailed Globally<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

VOA\u2019s acting Director Yolanda Lopez denounced the mass arrests of journalists in Iran earlier this year in a statement that said\u00a0VOA is committed to \u201cconfronting the disinformation and censorship efforts of the Iranian regime.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Iranian people deserve unfettered access to information,\u201d Lopez said in a statement. \u201c(VOA) stands with our fellow journalists in Iran and hopes for their safe release, because a free press matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Coalition For Women in Journalism, which is also documenting media arrests, says dozens of female reporters are among those detained.<\/p>\n

Some have reported being abused or mistreated in custody, Kiran Nazish, the CFWIJ founding director, told VOA.<\/p>\n

“We have been told by journalists and lawyers, that in some instances police or prison guards have indulged in straightforward sexual acts, including touching their genitalia,” Nazish told VOA via email. “We don’t see male journalists treated in the same way.”<\/p>\n

In early December, Iran’s prison service denied that any women were sexually assaulted while detained, Agence France-Presse reported.<\/p>\n

\n
\"FILE<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
SEE ALSO:<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

With Mass Arrests, Now is ‘Worst Time’ to Be Journalist in Iran<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Sharif of the IRGC said the protests are a \u201cfalse excuse\u201d for sedition and referred to the protesters as \u201crebels.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spokesperson\u2019s comments came just a few days after a commander of the Quds Force, which is part of the IRGC, made similar comments.<\/p>\n

That commander was cited by diaspora news website\u00a0Iran Wire\u00a0<\/em>as saying that anyone who has reported against Iran will be \u201chit without exception.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran has been known to target journalists and critics, including those living in exile.<\/p>\n

The U.S. spending bill passed in December included provisions to impose sanctions on Iranian officials found to be involved in the harassment, surveillance, kidnapping, torture or killing of Iranian and U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n

\n
\"FILE<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
SEE ALSO:<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

US Spending Bill Includes Sanctions for Harassing, Surveilling Iranian Citizens<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Masih Alinejad Harassment and Unlawful Targeting Act is named after VOA Persian television host and critic of the Iranian government Alinejad, who was the target of a plot to kidnap her and take her back to Iran.<\/p>\n

Under the act, the U.S. secretary of state must file a report detailing the state of human rights in Iran, what actions the Iranian government has taken during the past year to target dissidents inside and outside of Iran, and how it finances the silencing of its critics.<\/p>\n

This story originated in VOA\u2019s Persian service.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A spokesperson for Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard threatened a \u201cregretful response\u201d to Western media outlets \u2014 including Voice of America \u2014 over their coverage of the mass protests. In a meeting with a special combat brigade on Wednesday, Ramezan Sharif, who is head of public relations for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or IRGC, described Persian-language […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":107838,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recposts"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["fa","en"],"languages":{"fa":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107837"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107840,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107837\/revisions\/107840"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}