BBC staff to testify at UN on Iran targeting Persian service

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The BBC says  its journalists will appeal for the first time directly to the United Nations over what the British broadcaster describes as the “persecution and harassment” by Iran of those affiliated with its Persian service.

The decision by the broadcaster comes after an Iranian court last year froze the assets of more than 150 people associated with its Persian service.

While long targeted by authorities in the Islamic Republic, the BBC says its decision came after harassment by authorities had worsened recently as their complaints had been “completely ignored.”

“We are not the only media organization to have been harassed or forced to compromise when dealing with Iran,” BBC director-general Tony Hall says in a statement. “In truth, this story is much wider: it is a story about fundamental human rights.”

Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of the Iranian judiciary’s Human Rights Committee, dismissed allegations against Iran by both the UN and others as “racist” and “dictated in Washington, France and London and other places.”

The BBC’s Farsi-language service was barred from operating in Iran after the country’s disputed 2009 presidential election. Many Iranians still listen to its radio shows and watch its satellite television broadcasts. The BBC says the service reaches some 18 million people weekly.

— AP