UK Iran envoy in ‘threats to journalists’

IRAN’S most senior diplomat in Britain has been summoned to the Foreign Office over alleged threats to the lives of journalists in the UK.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said he had called in Iran’s charge d’affaires, Mehdi Hosseini Matin, to make it clear that ‘intimidation of any kind’ would not be tolerated.

It came after police said they had received ‘credible information’ that Iranian security forces were threatening UK-based journalists.

Although Scotland Yard didn’t identify the victims, UK-based news channel Iran International said that police had told two of its journalists about ‘an imminent, credible and significant risk’ to them and their families this week.

Media freedoms in Iran have come under global scrutiny after the death of a 22-year-old woman, who died in police custody, sparked nationwide protests. More than 40 journalists have been arrested since the demonstrations broke out in September.

Last month Britain sanctioned Iranian security officials and the country’s morality police, saying they had used threats of violence to control women’s clothes and behaviour.