LONDON: Britain on Friday hauled in a senior Iranian diplomat after what it described as death threats against journalists living in the UK, following weeks of anti-regime protests.
The move coincided with Melika Balali, 22, an Iranian-born wrestler now based in Scotland, receiving police protection after accusations that she too had been threatened by the Tehran regime.
“I have summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires today after journalists working in the UK were subject to immediate threats to life from Iran,” Foreign Secretary James Cleverly tweeted.
“We do not tolerate threats and intimidation from foreign nations toward individuals living in the UK,” he said.
Two British-Iranian journalists working in the UK for an independent Farsi-language channel have received “credible” death threats from Iran’s security forces, the channel’s broadcaster said on Monday.
Volant Media, the London-based broadcaster of Iran International TV channel, said the pair had received “death threats from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.”
The channel has been covering the anti-regime protests in Iran following the death in mid-September of Mahsa Amini for allegedly breaching strict dress rules for women.
Volant Media said London’s Metropolitan Police force had also notified other journalists of threats. The Met refused to comment.
But Police Scotland confirmed Friday that it had instituted a “safety plan” to protect Balali, who moved to Scotland a year ago and now represents her adopted country in UK competitions.
When she won gold for Scotland at the British Wrestling Championships in June, Balali held up a sign saying “stop forcing hijab” and “I have the right to be a wrestler.”
Amini, who was also 22, died in police custody after her arrest for allegedly wearing the hijab “improperly.”
Balali recently shaved her head at a protest in Glasgow, in an act of solidarity with the ongoing protests in Iran over women’s rights.
“These threats make me stronger. When I receive threats from the government of Iran I just think my way is right — if I were wrong, why would they threaten me?” the wrestler told BBC Scotland.
Iran has warned Britain it will “pay” for what it labelled its actions to destabilize the Islamic republic in the protests sparked by Amini’s death, state media reported Wednesday.
Iran says Britain harbors hostile Farsi-language media reporting on the protests. The BBC in turn has accused Tehran of waging a campaign of threats and intimidation against its Persian service.
UK summons Iranian diplomat over threats to journalists
https://arab.news/n2crc
UK summons Iranian diplomat over threats to journalists
- Two British-Iranian journalists working in the UK for an independent Farsi-language channel have received "credible" death threats from Iran's security forces
- The channel has been covering the anti-regime protests in Iran following the death in mid-September of Mahsa Amini
To infinity and beyond: Grendizer’s 50 years of inspiring Arabs
- 50 years after its creation, the Grendizer anime series continues to capture Arab imagination
- Arab News Japan speaks to creator Go Nagai, Middle Eastern fans and retells the story behind the UFO Robot tasked with protecting our planet
LONDON: Few cultural imports have crossed borders as unexpectedly, or as powerfully, as Grendizer, the Japanese giant robot that half a century ago became a childhood hero across the Arab world, nowhere more so than in Saudi Arabia.
Created in Japan in the mid-1970s by manga artist Go Nagai, Grendizer was part of the “mecha” tradition of giant robots. The genre was shaped by Japan’s experience during the Second World War, and explored themes of invasion, resistance and loss through the medium of science fiction.
But while the series enjoyed moderate success in Japan, its true legacy was established thousands of kilometers away in the Middle East.
The anime “UFO Robot Grendizer” arrived on television in the region in 1979, dubbed into Arabic and initially broadcast in Lebanon during the Lebanese civil war. The story it told of the heroic Duke Fleed, a displaced prince whose planet had been destroyed by alien invaders, struck a chord with children growing up amid regional conflict and occupation by Israel.
Its themes of defending one’s homeland, standing up to aggression and protecting the innocent were painfully relevant in the region, transforming the series from mere entertainment into a kind of emotional refuge.
Much of the show’s impact came from its successful Arabization. The powerful Arabic dubbing and emotionally charged voice-acting, especially by Lebanese actor Jihad El-Atrash as Duke Fleed, lent the show a moral gravity unmatched by other cartoons of the era.
The theme song for the series, performed by Sami Clark, became an anthem that the Lebanese singer continued to perform at concerts and festivals right up until his death in 2022.
By the early 1980s, “Grendizer” had spread across the Middle East, inspiring fandoms in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and beyond. For many, it was not only their first exposure to anime, it also delivered lessons on values such as justice and honor.
Grendizer was so influential in the region that it became the subject of scholarly research, which in addition to recognizing the ways in which the plight of the show’s characters resonated with the audience in the Middle East, also linked the show’s popularity to generational memories of displacement, particularly the Palestinian Nakba.
Half a century later, “Grendizer” remains culturally alive and relevant in the region. In Saudi Arabia, which embraced the original version of the show wholeheartedly, Manga Productions is now introducing a new generation of fans to a modernized version of the character, through a video game, The Feast of The Wolves, which is available in Arabic and eight other languages on platforms including PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch, and a new Arabic-language anime series, “Grendizer U,” which was broadcast last year.
Fifty years after the debut of the show, “Grendizer” is back — although to a generation of fans of the original series, their shelves still full of merchandise and memorabilia, it never really went away.
