BBC staff go to UN over Iran persecution

THE BBC has said its journalists will appeal directly to the UN over what the broadcaster describes as the “persecution and harassment” by Iran of those affiliated with its Persian service.

The decision by the broadcaster comes after an Iranian court last year froze the assets of more than 150 people associated with its Persian service.

While long targeted by authorities in the Islamic Republic, the BBC said its decision came after harassment by authorities had worsened recently as their complaints had been “completely ignored”.

Director-general Tony Hall said: “We are not the only media organisation to have been harassed or forced to compromise when dealing with Iran.

“In truth, this story is much wider: it is a story about fundamental human rights.”

Mohammad Javad LARIBURMA’S jani, the head of the Iranian judiciary’s Human Rights Committee, dismissed allegations against Iran by both the UN and others as “racist” and “dictated in Washington, France and London and other places”.

The BBC first disclosed the asset freezes in August, saying it came from a court at Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, which holds dual nationals and political detainees, among other prisoners.

The court order stopped those named from selling, buying or inheriting property in the country.

Other harassment by Iran has seen family members of BBC staff arbitrarily detained, subject to travel bans or watched by intelligence service operatives, the broadcaster said. It also said women journalists at the service were targeted by “fake and defamatory news”.

The BBC’S Farsi-language service was barred from operating in Iran after the country’s disputed 2009 presidential election.