BBC News in London have accused the Iranian government of escalating a campaign of harassment by punishing their families in Iran, as part of a wider attempt to silence journalists working for the broadcaster’s Persian service.
It revealed this week that there has been a “sharp and deeply troubling escalation” in the targeting of its journalists’ families, describing the campaign as “psychological warfare” by the Iranian regime.
BBC Persian, the Farsi-language arm of the BBC’s World Service, has long faced pressure from Tehran. But staff now say Iranian authorities have stepped up intimidation tactics, dragging relatives into interrogations, threatening them with imprisonment, job loss, and asset seizures, all because they are related to the platform’s journalists.
Behrang Tajdin, a journalist at BBC Persian, described the situation as “punishment” rather than mere harassment. “They are trying to make our families’ lives miserable. It’s psychological warfare,” he said. “The scale and number of families targeted have gone up exponentially.”
Tajdin added that some staff are forced to emotionally disconnect from their loved ones just to keep working. “We would not be able to continue working if we kept thinking about the consequences for them,” he said.
One journalist reported being told: “It doesn’t matter that you don’t live in Iran, we can also do whatever we want in London.”
The intimidation campaign is seen as retaliation for the news platform Persian’s wide reach, with a weekly audience of nearly 22 million viewers. The service, which provides independent news and analysis in Farsi, is one of the few trusted sources of information for Iranians amid increasing censorship and government propaganda.
The UK’s Metropolitan Police have recorded over 20 “threat-to-life” incidents linked to Iran in recent years. In one high-profile case last year, an Iranian journalist was stabbed outside his London home and subsequently fled the country for safety.
BBC condemns assault
Its Director General, Tim Davie, condemned the harassment, calling it “clearly designed to exploit family ties as a means of coercion, pressuring our journalists to abandon their work or return to Iran under false pretences.”
The station is preparing to file a new complaint with the UN Human Rights Council, calling for international intervention against Iran’s growing transnational repression.
The Iranian government has not responded to the latest allegations.
