Roy Greenslade reports on Iran’s persecution of journalists who work for the BBC:

Too little attention has been paid to an insidious long-run campaign of persecution by the Iranian authorities against the staff of the BBC Persian service. It is marked by cowardice and a lack of humanity.

Concerned at the lack of publicity about the situation, the BBC recently staged a special press conference chaired by its world affairs editor, John Simpson. It highlighted what its lawyers regard as “an unprecedented collective targeting and punishment of journalists”. Result? Few, if any, headlines in mainstream media.

Doubtless that failure to heed what Simpson called Iran’s “contemptible behaviour” did not go unnoticed by the tyrants in Tehran. So, they will take heart from that and their under-reported attempts to silence BBC Persian will continue and, possibly, escalate.

So, spread the word.

As they stand, the facts are shocking. Unable to get their hands on BBC Persian’s London-based staff, Iran’s police intimidate their relatives inside Iran. They freeze their assets, which has the effect of preventing them buying and selling property. They confiscate passports, which denies them a chance to travel. They arrest them arbitrarily, interrogating them for hours at a time and often detaining them for days in prison.

According to an internal survey completed by 96 BBC Persian staff, 45 reported that their parents had been questioned by the authorities and 40 said the same had happened to their brothers or sisters.

Government-affiliated media in Iran have published photographs of London staff, calling them “a mafia gang” and portraying BBC Persian as an arm of the British state. In addition, journalistic sources within Iran have been targeted.

The authorities also deny the staff the right to travel from Britain into Iran to attend family funerals or to visit ailing relatives and friends. “We are living through a daily nightmare,” says Rana Rahimpour, BBC Persian’s senior presenter. “When a parent dies we cannot go out there to mourn. They arrested my loved ones to force me to leave my job. A judge told my parents you have to stop her [from broadcasting for the BBC].”

And they don’t stop there.

Two months ago, Iran was accused by the Dutch government of directing two political assassinations in the Netherlands. The victims were Dutch nationals of Iranian origin. For Gallagher, these allegations suggest that there is “a very grave risk here to individual journalists”.

A year ago, the BBC appealed to the United Nations over the BBC Persian harassment. It led to a statement two months later by UN secretary-general António Guterres in which he acknowledged that Iran had been guilty of persecuting staff.

Last week, the European parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of a resolution criticising Iran’s treatment of journalists, and all human rights defenders. It criticised the targeting of BBC Persian staff and demanded Iran “stop the surveillance, arrest, harassment and prosecution of journalists, online activists and their families.”

It is to be hoped that this development helps to push the subject higher up the mainstream media’s agenda. More, much more, should be done ensure that Iran’s assault on press freedom gains greater public attention. To ignore it is to condone it. And allowing it to fester may well encourage other tyrannies to follow suit.

Let’s make a noise.