A man interviewed by the BBC Persian service, Hasan Fathi, has been detained by security agents, according to international media reports. Fathi was reportedly interviewed on Saturday about the blast at an ammunition depot that killed at least 17 soldiers.
The BBC has said it has no employees in Iran, and had interviewed Fathi only as an independent commentator, AP reported. The BBC further expressed concern that Iran is “intimidating people who speak to us,” AP reported.
Two of six Iranian journalists arrested in September for “collaborating” with the BBC’s Persian service were bailed on 10 November, AFP reported. Katayoun Shahabi and Mehran Zinatbakhsh were reportedly released on Wednesday after making bail, AFP said.
The International Press Institute (IPI) calls for the release of all journalists imprisoned in Iran, and for Iran to allow foreign Persian-language media and those who provide content for them to operate without hindrance.
AFP reported that two others detained with the group, Naser Safarian and Mohsen Shahnazdar, were released in early October, and that a third member of the group, Hadi Afarideh, had also been released.
After their arrest in September, the BBC published a report stating that the journalists were not BBC employees, but filmmakers whose work had been broadcast by the BBC’s Persian service. Foreign news services broadcast in the Persian language, including those from the BBC and VOA, are frequently jammed by the authorities. Moreover, AFP reported that it is prohibited for Iranians to cooperate with such services.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Iran has a “revolving door” policy for jailing journalists and since 2009 between 30 and 50 have been in prison at any given time.