Iran arrests journalists over ties with ‘illegal’ BBCRebecca Hawkes ©RapidTVNews | 08-02-2012
Several people with alleged links to the BBC Persian service have been detained in Iran, the country's semi-official Mehr news agency has reported.
An unnamed source told Mehr that "a number of people deceived by the lie-spreading BBC Persian network" had been arrested.
The source said they had "the mission of gathering news and information, producing content in various formats, recruiting, training and preparing for the departure of Iran's elite media workers from the country".
In reaction, the BBC reiterated it has no reporters or stringers based within Iran, and said the reported arrests "should be of deep concern to all those who believe in a free and independent media".
Just last week the British broadcaster condemned what it calls increased bullying and harassment from Tehran of both its own staff and increased intimidation of their relatives living within Iran.
The latest detainees have, according to the Mehr source, committed "many anti-security crimes as part of their co-operation with this network" since 2009, when mass protests erupted in Iran after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Authorities in Tehran then accused the BBC of instigating the anti-regime protests, and its reporters were expelled from the country as a result.
"The case of the detained people will be handed over to the judiciary department for the issuance of a verdict after the final compilation and preparation of the charges."
The source reportedly added: "any kind of co-operation with the BBC Persian channel is illegal and will be prosecuted."
The BBC's director general Mark Thompson recently revealed the sister of one member of staff had been held on unspecified charges in solitary confinement in Tehran's Evin Prison.
"Although she has now been released on bail, her treatment was utterly deplorable and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms," Thompson wrote in a blog on 3 February.
Six independent filmmakers, accused by authorities of working for BBC Persian, were also arrested in September 2011. The broadcaster had bought the rights to air their documentaries, however they were not employees, it said.
The latest reports "admit that the Iranian authorities are engaged in a persistent campaign, intimidating and arresting people who they claim have connections with the BBC Persian service," said the BBC.
Human Rights Watch confirms there has been a new wave of arrests of reporters and bloggers aimed at stemming the flow of free speech ahead of parliamentary elections in Iran, scheduled for 2 March.
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