BBC News Persian can be accessed again online in Iran thanks to RSF mirror site
After being blocked by the Iranian authorities since 2006, the website of BBC News Persian, the BBC World Service’s Farsi-language service, can be accessed again by Iranians in Iran without having to use a VPN or a special browser such as Tor by going to a mirror site created by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Blocked by the Iranian government to deny its citizens access to one of the world’s leading sources of independent news reporting in Farsi, BBC News Persian is again accessible in Iran thanks to RSF’s Operation Collateral Freedom, which circumvents online censorship by creating mirror sites.
Iranians in Iran can now access the BBC News Persian website by using this link and can watch BBC Persian Television by using this one. If the Iranian government manages to block these links, RSF will be able to create new ones that will be shared on the GitHub page dedicated to Collateral Freedom or on the BBC News Persian Instagram and Telegram streams.
“By means of Operation Collateral Freedom, RSF is enabling Iranian Internet users to access what is an iconic independent news site in this part of the world. This technical solution is the appropriate response to the threat that the Iranian government poses to Iranians' access to information.”
"BBC World Service works continually to ensure its services can be available to audiences in territories where our content is otherwise blocked – such as Iran, where BBC News Persian reaches a weekly audience of 14.8 million. Our latest initiative is to offer access to the BBC Persian website in Iran through a mirror site operated by Reporters Without Borders. This now provides an easy method that can be used to access the service’s website.
The Islamic Republic of Iran does not hesitate to try to muzzle media and journalists based abroad. For more than a decade, the Iranian authorities have harassed BBC News Persian staff in London and their families in Iran. BBC Persian Television’s satellite broadcasts are often jammed.
Operation Collateral Freedom circumvents online censorship by created mirrors of blocked websites on major international servers, that cannot be easily blocked.Launched in 2015, this operation is currently helping more that 80 media websites to sidestep censorship in 24 countries, including Iran and Russia.
A part of the BBC World Service (the BBC’s international broadcaster), BBC News Persian is currently reaching an average of 19.2 million people internationally every week. As well as its TV channel, website and podcasts, BBC News Persian also communicates with its public via its social media – Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, X and Telegram.
Now one of the world’s biggest jailer of women journalists, the Islamic Republic of Iran is ranked 177th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2023 World Press Freedom Index.
