US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert announced Washington’s concern over “grave conditions facing the press in Iran”, according to a statement posted on State Department’s website on March 15.
Referring to this week’s discussion by the UN Human Rights Council of the report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, Nauert underlined various forms of persecution targeting journalists in Iran.
Urging the Iranian regime to respect its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Heather Nauert stated “The Special Rapporteur has continued to receive reports of the arbitrary detention and harassment of journalists, media workers, and their families, including during interviews conducted during missions”.
The US State Department Spokesperson also highlighted what she described as “the disturbing examples of harassment, arbitrary detention, travel bans, and surveillance by intelligence service operatives of some individuals and their families working for the Persian Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)”.
Previously BBC Persian had published a list of 152 of its members of staff, former employees and contributors within an injunction by a Tehran court banning them from carrying out financial transactions in the country. The report by UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran also noted the injunction.