Restrictions on access to information: Access restricted to officials / press conferences
Authorities in Iran have swiftly and aggressively pushed ahead to silence independent reporting on Covid-19 epidemic by harassing, detaining and censoring journalists and social media users. They have questioned or detained journalists who contradicted or questioned official reports, warned that those publishing statistics other than government figures would be arrested, and issued censorship orders to news outlets. In at least one case, a journalist was forced to retract comments made on social media.