London Accuses Tehran Of Threatening Lives Of Journalists In UK

The UK government has summoned Iran’s most senior diplomat in London to protest about alleged threats against journalists working there.

In a statement on November 11, the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office said the move followed “a series of serious threats against journalists living in the UK”.

It added that, in recent years the Metropolitan Police had contacted a number of UK-based journalists, after “credible information” had emerged about a threat to their lives.

Foreign secretary James Cleverly said “we do not tolerate threats to life and intimidation of any kind towards journalists, or any individual, living in the UK.”

The UK government did not name the journalists involved, say what outlets they worked for or give their nationality. However, the London-based, Persian-language TV channel Iran International issued a statement earlier in the week saying some of its journalists had received “credible threats to life” from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp.

It said two of its British-Iranian journalists had been told by the Metropolitan Police of “imminent, credible and significant risk to their lives and those of their families” and that the police had informed other members of its staff about separate threats to them.

Tehran has become increasingly hostile towards Iran International, which it says is funded by Saudi Arabia and takes an anti-Iran approach in its reporting. Iran’s intelligence minister Esmail Khatib recently said “the Iran International satellite network is recognized by Iran’s security agency as a terrorist organization.”

On Thursday, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry said it had arrested a woman identified as Elham Afkari as she was trying to leave Iran, accusing her of being an “agent” of the channel.

The UK government said more than 40 journalists have been detained in Iran in response to the widespread protests that have followed the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in Tehran on 16 September. She had been arrested for failing to adhere to Iran’s strict dress code for women.

Iran is currently without an ambassador in London, after Mohsen Baharvand was removed in February, after video emerged of him at an embassy reception where some women did not have their heads covered. Its most senior diplomat now is deputy head of mission and chargé d’affaires Seyed Mehdi Hosseini Mati.

Iran International launched in May 2017 and is owned by Volant Media which in turn is majority owned by Adel Alabdulkarim. In its last set of accounts, for the year ended December 2021, it reported a loss of £64.3 million ($54 million) on turnover of £1.7 million.