Iran Intensifies Threats Against Journalists in London

A rally is held in London in support of the protests in Iran. (dpa)
A rally is held in London in support of the protests in Iran. (dpa)
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Iran Intensifies Threats Against Journalists in London

A rally is held in London in support of the protests in Iran. (dpa)
A rally is held in London in support of the protests in Iran. (dpa)

Employees of businesses and media firms at London’s Chiswick Business Park were alarmed by the unprecedented deployment of Metropolitan Police in the area in recent days.

The move was followed by the deployment of counter-terrorism forces and later the erection of checkpoints.

The intense security measures are aimed at protecting the headquarters of Iran International, the independent Persian language channel whose staff have received death threats as protests raged throughout Iran for the third consecutive month.

As the protests continued to intensify, Iranian security and intelligence authorities increased their crackdown and threats against the opposition abroad. Journalists in western countries have been their favorite target after they exposed the extent of the excessive use of force the regime has used to suppress the protests at home.

Employees at Iran International told Asharq Al-Awsat that the threats intensified as the protests picked up steam throughout Iran.

British police were the first to inform them of the threat back in October.

They were told that the threat was real and imminent against employees at the channel, but they were vague on the details.

They revealed that Tehran had in fact been increasing its threats since about a year ago.

At the time Iranian officials were threatening opposition media without targeting any specific one. But since the eruption of the protests in wake of the death of Mahsa Amini in September, the threats have only increased, with Iran International actually being named.

Iran International is the most watched foreign-based opposition news channel in Iran. It enjoys around 33 percent of viewers, nearly double its closest competitor.

Iranian officials, meanwhile, have accused foreign-based Persian language media outlets of stoking the protests. Tehran has imposed strict restrictions on the coverage of the protests on local media.

Besides Iran International, Tehran has pressured the Persian service of the BBC and the United States’ Radio Farda and the Persian Deutsche Welle.

With the increased threats, British police upped security at the headquarters of Iran International.

The employees told Asharq Al-Awsat that the police coordinates and shares information with them about the extent of the danger and threats.

They spoke of an incident in which security noticed two men and a woman with a baby that were strolling back and forth in front of the channel’s headquarters until late at night. The security guards found it unusual that they would keep the baby out at such a late hour, so they approached the “family” to ask if it needed any help.

The guards were then surprised when the men asked about the security measures at the building. The guards informed the administration about the incident.

The employees told Asharq Al-Awsat that Tehran often turns to drug dealers, money-launderers or religious extremists to hire as agents to carry out its threats.

Last week, British counter-terrorism police increased their security measures at Iran International. They set up cement blocks like the ones erected at government buildings and tourism landmarks to prevent car rammings.

The British government had also recently summoned Iran’s top diplomat in London to protest against no less than ten plots to kill people residing in the UK whom Tehran views as “opponents of the regime”.



Bangladesh Protest Leaders Taken from Hospital by Police

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Bangladesh Protest Leaders Taken from Hospital by Police

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

Bangladeshi police detectives on Friday forced the discharge from hospital of three student protest leaders blamed for deadly unrest, taking them to an unknown location, staff told AFP.

Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmud and Abu Baker Majumder are all members of Students Against Discrimination, the group responsible for organizing this month's street rallies against civil service hiring rules.

At least 195 people were killed in the ensuing police crackdown and clashes, according to an AFP count of victims reported by police and hospitals, in some of the worst unrest of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's tenure.

All three were patients at a hospital in the capital Dhaka, and at least two of them said their injuries were caused by torture in earlier police custody.

"They took them from us," Gonoshasthaya hospital supervisor Anwara Begum Lucky told AFP. "The men were from the Detective Branch."

She added that she had not wanted to discharge the student leaders but police had pressured the hospital chief to do so.

Islam's elder sister Fatema Tasnim told AFP from the hospital that six plainclothes detectives had taken all three men.

The trio's student group had suspended fresh protests at the start of this week, saying they had wanted the reform of government job quotas but not "at the expense of so much blood".

The pause was due to expire earlier on Friday but the group had given no indication of its future course of action.

Islam, 26, the chief coordinator of Students Against Discrimination, told AFP from his hospital bed on Monday that he feared for his life.

He said that two days beforehand, a group of people identifying themselves as police detectives blindfolded and handcuffed him and took him to an unknown location.

Islam added that he had come to his senses the following morning on a roadside in Dhaka.

Mahmud earlier told AFP that he had also been detained by police and beaten at the height of last week's unrest.

Three senior police officers in Dhaka all denied that the trio had been taken from the hospital and into custody on Friday.

- Garment tycoon arrested -

Police told AFP on Thursday that they had arrested at least 4,000 people since the unrest began last week, including 2,500 in Dhaka.

On Friday police said they had arrested David Hasanat, the founder and chief executive of one of Bangladesh's biggest garment factory enterprises.

His Viyellatex Group employs more than 15,000 people according to its website, and its annual turnover was estimated at $400 million by the Daily Star newspaper last year.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police inspector Abu Sayed Miah said Hasanat and several others were suspected of financing the "anarchy, arson and vandalism" of last week.

Bangladesh makes around $50 billion in annual export earnings from the textile trade, which services leading global brands including H&M, Gap and others.

Student protests began this month after the reintroduction in June of a scheme reserving more than half of government jobs for certain candidates.

With around 18 million young people in Bangladesh out of work, according to government figures, the move deeply upset graduates facing an acute jobs crisis.

Critics say the quota is used to stack public jobs with loyalists to Hasina's Awami League.

- 'Call to the nation' -

The Supreme Court cut the number of reserved jobs on Sunday but fell short of protesters' demands to scrap the quotas entirely.

Hasina has ruled Bangladesh since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.

Her government is also accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.

Hasina continued a tour of government buildings that had been ransacked by protesters, on Friday visiting state broadcaster Bangladesh Television, which was partly set ablaze last week.

"Find those who were involved in this," she said, according to state news agency BSS.

"Cooperate with us to ensure their punishment. I am making this call to the nation."