This week on 60 Minutes, correspondent Lesley Stahl reported on a sort of proxy conflict Iran is waging around the globe: hiring hitmen to intimidate, abduct and assassinate perceived enemies. Among the dissidents the Iranian authorities is more and more focusing on are journalists working overseas to report Iranian information.
“They killed journalism inside Iran. And now they’re making an attempt to unfold the censorship and kill journalism outdoors the nation,” mentioned Mehdi Parpanchi, the information director of Iran International, a Persian-language information outlet established in 2017.
Based between London and Washington, D.C., Iran International is banned in Iran, although it may be accessed inside the nation by satellite tv for pc tv. Reporting on matters that might be in any other case censored in Iran, the outlet turned a outstanding supply of data on the anti-government protests within the nation in fall 2022. That is when Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian lady, was arrested for violating hijab legal guidelines and died in police custody, igniting protests all through Iran.
Tehran considers Iran International a terrorist group, claiming the channel has ties to Saudi Arabia. Anyone working for the information outlet — from prime editor to the evening cleaning-staff — is forbidden to ever reenter Iran.
In fall 2022, intimidation in opposition to the staff of Iran International had elevated, as its reporters in London started receiving demise threats. Metropolitan Police in London supplied safety and barricaded Iran International’s headquarters in Chiswick, west London.
By February 2023, the British police advisable that Iran International shut down their operation within the U.Okay. The outlet moved its major operation to its Washington, D.C. workplace, whereas others labored remotely.
Amid the shuffling of personnel, the outlet by no means ceased broadcasting.
“We Iranian journalists outdoors the nation, we’re, typically on the expense of our personal lives, making an attempt to offer the individuals the true image of what’s occurring contained in the nation and outdoors,” Parpanchi advised Stahl.
Matt Jukes, the top of counter terrorism policing in Britain, was concerned in investigating the menace operation in opposition to Iran International. He advised 60 Minutes that the Metropolitan Police had made a “vital arrest” relating to the case and labored with Iran International to assist the broadcaster return to London.
“We now really feel we’re in a position to help that broadcaster to get again on air within the U.Okay., and that is a freedom which we actually worth,” Jukes mentioned. “The freedoms to function a free, honest, impartial press are massively necessary.”
After broadcasting from Washington for seven months, Iran International returned to London final fall.
But the intimidation has not ended.
In March, Iran International journalist Pouria Zeraati was stabbed outdoors his residence in London. According to The Guardian, counter-terrorism police and safety providers in Britain imagine the Iranian regime used legal proxies to hold out the assault.
In an interview with ITV News, Zeraati mentioned he believed the assault was associated to his career and mentioned it was a “warning shot” as a result of his attackers “had the chance to kill” him. The journalist returned to Iran International airways every week after his assault.
In his interview for 60 Minutes previous to the March assault, Parpanchi advised Stahl he and his colleagues are undeterred by threats — even after they needed to transfer throughout the ocean.
“We didn’t cease our operation even for a second,” he mentioned. “So, we weren’t defeated.”
The video above was initially revealed on November 12, 2023. It was produced by Brit McCandless Farmer and edited by Sarah Shafer Prediger.
