Human Rights Watch, August 9
Authorities Using State TV to Discredit Journalists, Dissenters
(Beirut) – Iranian authorities should immediately stop harassing and threatening the families of activists and journalists as a means to silence dissent and criticism, three rights organizations said today.
“The longstanding use of Iran’s state media to force activists’ families to appear unwillingly to denounce their relatives shows the level the authorities will stoop to silence state critics,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.
Masih Alinejad founded the campaign “My Stealthy Freedom” in 2014, which advocates against women being forced to wear the compulsory hijab in public in Iran. The enforcement of a compulsory dress code for women in Iran violates their rights to private life, personal autonomy, and freedom of expression, as well as to freedom of religion, thought, and conscience. It is also a form of gender-based discrimination prohibited under international law.
There are serious concerns that this broadcast is just the latest example of authorities using one of their well-established tactics to pressure and threaten family members of Alinejad, who is based outside Iran.
Read the full report here
