Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 6 /Trend/
The BBC has urged the Iranian government to stop the outrage of its officials and appeals to the governments of other countries to stop undermining free media's activities, the BBC quoted Director of BBC Global News Peter Horrock as saying on Wednseday.
"The BBC calls on the Iranian government to repudiate the actions of its officials and we request the British and other governments take all necessary means to deter the Iranian government from all these attempts to undermine free media," Horrock said.
Six independent documentary makers whose films have appeared on BBC Persian TV have been arrested in Iran on Sept. 19. These film-makers have never been employed or commissioned by the BBC.
Iranian officials have claimed that BBC staff are employees of MI6, that named staff have been involved in crimes, including sexual crimes, and that BBC Persian is inciting designated terror groups to attack Iran.
Horrock noted that "these claims are clearly absurd, the intensity of language magnifies the fears of BBC staff for their family and friends back in Iran."
Iranian police and officials have been arresting, questioning and intimidating the relatives of BBC staff. Passports have been confiscated, homes searched and threats made. The relatives have been told to tell the BBC staff to stop appearing on air, to return to Iran, or to secretly provide information on the BBC to the Iranian authorities, the BBC reported.
"Our Iranian journalists have made their own decisions to work for the BBC, which they knew might cause hostility from their own government. But their families are innocent bystanders and it is outrageous that they should also be victimized," Horrock said.
"Given the vulnerability of those family members we have thought hard about drawing attention to this harassment."
This issue is wider than the BBC and is behavior that all people who believe in free and independent media should be concerned about, he underscored.
Edited by T.Konyayeva.