Iranians Forbidden to Aid Foreign Radio and Television Broadcast Programs

Stop Fundamentalism – Head of Iranian Security Forces, Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam told reporters today that any aid to foreign broadcasting services such as BBC or VOA would be considered cooperation with the enemy and will be punishable the same way as working with security service of the enemy, said ISNA state-run news agency today.

The new measure is directed towards actors or actresses, documentary film-makers, reporters and journalists, and others.  Such activities will only be allowed by permission.

“Anyone interested to work with such networks, should obtain permission in advance,” Ahmadi-Moghaddam told ISNA.  “Foreign Farsi language network programs outside Iran are following different objectives and work according to the rules of the funding country,” he added.

He stressed that cooperation with such networks is under the condition that their objectives are not to undermine the Iranian regime’s rule inside the country.

By limiting work for such broadcasting services to permit only activity, Iranian regime manages to extend its censorship mechanism to outside of its boarders and to international broadcasters.

Moghaddam threatened Farsi Network Programs that, “If these networks broadcast programs against the regime, naturally aiding them will be illegal.”  He added that, “VOA and BBC are both apparatus of US intelligence agencies.”   

Iranian regime arrested six film-makers and journalists last week for working with BBC Persian program. That was despite BBC’s denial that anyone worked for the service inside the country at all.

But BBC speculates that the arrests came a day after broadcast of a documentary about Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader.  BBC also said that the program signal was jammed during the broadcast inside Iran.

BBC denied that any part of the documentary was produced in Iran by any of the six persons arrested.  All the BBC had done, the corporations said, was to buy the rights to broadcast independent films, some of which was made by the arrested individuals.