Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Iran: BBC Persian Journalists

Tuesday 13 October 2020 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 1 Partly answered 1 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Minister raised concerns about intimidation of BBC Persian journalists with the Iranian Government regularly.
  • No justification from Iranian authorities for their actions against BBC Persian employees has been satisfactory.
  • Minister expressed confidence that Iranian contacts understand the concerns and condemnation regarding the harassment.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Fiona Bruce Con
Foreign Affairs Culture, Media & Sport
Context

The question arises from the reported intimidation of BBC Persian journalists and their families by Iranian authorities, affecting media freedom.

Question

What recent representations have been made to the Iranian authorities on the intimidation of BBC Persian journalists in that country?

Answer from James Cleverly

Attacks against BBC Persian employees and their families are unacceptable. We raise this harassment regularly with the Iranian Government, as well as at the Human Rights Council. We will continue to defend BBC Persian's editorial independence. Concerns were most recently raised in an E3 Foreign Ministers' letter to Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif on 22 September.

Answered
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Q2 Fiona Bruce Con
Foreign Affairs
Context

The MP inquires further on the lack of feedback from Iranian authorities regarding previous representations made about the intimidation faced by BBC Persian journalists.

Question

Will the Minister give us some information on what responses the Foreign Office has received from the Iranian authorities to such representations? The BBC journalists themselves get very little feedback on this issue.

Answer from James Cleverly

Sadly, the Iranian authorities have yet to provide any kind of justification for their actions that stand up to scrutiny. Their behaviour is indefensible, and we are confident that our Iranian contacts, including Foreign Minister Zarif, fully understand our concerns and our condemnation of such harassment.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Details of specific responses or feedback from the Iranian authorities were not provided; the answer focused on condemning their actions without confirming what has been received officially.

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