BBC World Service has issued a new urgent appeal to the United Nations (UN) against Iran over the online violence faced by women journalists working for BBC News Persian.
It says women journalists at BBC News Persian face daily, relentless online attacks and harassment, including threats of rape and death.
One BBC News Persian presenter was the subject of a fake news story claiming that she had been raped by a colleague known to Iranian audiences and a fake photo blog showing her with her “illegitimate child”. Later, her father was interrogated by authorities, where officers told him she had hidden it from her family because she was embarrassed about having been raped by a colleague.
Liliane Landor, Senior Controller of BBC International News and Director of World Service said: “We absolutely deplore the violent, misogynistic and gendered harassment our women journalists have to face every day.
“Trusted and impartial journalism is fundamental to any democracy and it is only by working together that we can ensure the safety of journalists everywhere and ensure women’s voices are included. We have to be able to work unhindered, free from threats and free from abuse.”
BBC News Persian staff cannot return home to Iran because of the risk of arrest and prosecution. Journalists have been prosecuted and convicted in Iran for national security crimes, including offences which attract the death penalty. Consequently, BBC News Persian have no staff working in Iran.
Family members of BBC News Persian staff have also faced arbitrary arrest and detention and repeated interrogation, lost jobs and been blacklisted from employment had passports confiscated and effective travel bans imposed, and are pressured to pressure their family members to leave the BBC and return to Iran.
Last week, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, an Iranian-British dual citizen was released from detention in Iran after six years detention. The aid worker had been wrongly identified as being involved in the training of journalists by then foreign secretary Boris Johnson.
