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Watchdog: Iran 'Muzzling' Journalists Ahead of Parliamentary Elections

RFE/RL

   The New York-based [1]Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) says
   intelligence agents are summoning Iranian journalists, raiding their
   homes, and confiscating their equipment in a campaign to silence
   criticism of state policies ahead of this month's parliamentary
   elections.

   At least 10 journalists have been targeted by the intelligence arm of
   the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) over the past two
   weeks, CHRI said in a statement on February 11.

   It said the crackdown was targeting journalists-- and activists-- who
   maintain active social media accounts. Those targeted include human
   rights defender Bahareh Hedayat, a former political prisoner who was
   detained on February 10.

   "Muzzling journalists, detaining activists, and disqualifying
   parliamentary candidates will not silence dissent in Iran, as the
   recent protests have shown," CHRI Executive Director Hadi Ghaemi said
   in a statement on February 11.

   The hard-line Guardians Council disqualified thousands of candidates
   from running in the February 21 parliamentary elections, which come in
   the wake of deadly crackdowns on protests that have erupted across Iran
   amid rising public dissatisfaction over the country's faltering
   economy.

   More than 100 Iranian cities were rocked by protests in November after
   the government announced gasoline rationing and price hikes.

References

   1. https://iranhumanrights.org/2020/02/renewed-crackdown-in-iran-aimed-at-silencing-journalists-activists-ahead-of-parliamentary-elections/

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