2020

Washington, D.C., March 31, 2020 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed concern over Iranian authorities’ decision to suspend all newspaper printing and distribution in the country, where newsgathering and distribution is already tightly restricted.

In recent months, the stability of the Iranian government has been threatened by widespread protests in late 2019 and the shooting down of a Ukrainian civilian aircraft in January 2020 amid heightened tensions with the U.S. The latest threat is the coronavirus pandemic, which has hit Iran harder than any country except China or Italy.…

In early 2020, a journalist in Iran received a form from Iran’s National E-commerce Union, a nominally independent group that is close to the government, requesting their name, the news website they work for, and their IP address. “With all due respect,” it read, “provide the following information to prevent any potential problem during future…

On February 22, 2020, intelligence agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) arrested and interrogated freelance economic reporter Mohammad Mosaed for several hours over recent social media posts critical of the government and suspended his social media accounts, according to a brief interview he had with the BBC Persian Service a few hours after…

Elections are always problematic for journalists in Iran, as the government attempts to threaten the press into silence. The parliamentary elections on February 21 are no exception.

Washington, D.C., February 5, 2020 — Iranian authorities should cease raiding journalists’ homes and should return all material confiscated in recent raids, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Washington, D.C., February 3, 2020 – Iranian authorities should immediately drop the false news and defamation charges against the editors of three news outlets, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.