Journalists detained and beaten, foreign TV jammed amid anti-government protests

Reporters Without Borders today voiced concern about the action of the police in detaining and beating several news agency journalists during the past days of anti-government demonstrations, and about the increased jamming of foreign TV and radio signals carrying programming in Farsi. "Not only are the authorities trying to gag the foreign media by means of jamming, but they are preventing Iranian journalists inside the country from reporting the news," Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard said. "We fear that in the coming weeks the regime will continue its crackdown on the press by accusing all critical journalists of being in the pay of the United States." The student news agency ISNA reported that the Supreme Council for National Security (headed by President Mohammad Khatami) banned journalists from entering the university campus in Tehran on the evening of 12 June, as new demonstrations were being held around the campus. Several journalists with the ISNA and ILNA news agencies, including ISNA editor Abolfaz Fateh, were beaten. Police detained some journalists for several hours and confiscated their cameras, which were not returned to them. Until 12 June, journalists had been able to cover the previous demonstrations with few problems. A few days ago, the authorities stepped up the jamming of radio and TV broadcasts in Farsi that are beamed to Iran from abroad. Different state agencies are using hi-tech equipment around Tehran that emit micro-waves or signal noise to contain what the regime describes as a "cultural invasion." Intelligence minister Ali Younessi said "events outside the campus and the general discontent of the population are being guided by the foreign media and satellite stations." The Iranian authorities accuse the United States of paying these news media to destabilize the Islamic regime. Most of these media are controlled by monarchist opponents of the regime based in the United States. Although official banned, they have a sizeable audience in Iran where many people have satellite dishes.