DUBAI: Two British-Iranian journalists have received “significant and imminent” death threats from the Iranian regime, their organization has said.
Iran International, which is based in London, said police had said they were aware of specific threats to their two staff from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the armed wing of the regime in Tehran.
The independent Persian-language news channel said that police believed the threats represented “an imminent and significant risk to their lives and those of their families.”
Other Iran International journalists have also been informed of separate threats by the police, it said.
“Iran International is shocked and deeply concerned by the credible threats to life its Iranian-British journalists have received from the IRGC,” the channel’s parent company Volant Media said.
“Britain is the home of free speech. Iran International stands as part of that tradition, proud to serve the 85 million people of Iran with independent, uncensored information.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran, and specifically the IRGC cannot be allowed to export their pernicious media crackdown to the UK. The IRGC cannot be allowed to act abroad with impunity.”
The threats come after several weeks of warnings from the IRGC and Iranian government to independent media working in London, the company said.
Last month, Iran announced sanctions against Persian-language media outlets in the UK including Iran International and BBC News Persian. It accused them of “incitement of riots” and “support of terrorism” over their coverage of the anti-government protests.
Several British MPs have urged the government to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist group in response.
