Journalists at the Persian-language TV station Iran International in London have been working flat out, vowing to “show the truth” about the protests in Iran, despite threats against them and their families.<\/p>\n
The private broadcaster, housed in a heavily-secured building in west London, was labelled a “terrorist” organisation by Tehran in 2022 along with the BBC’s Persian-language channel.<\/p>\n
But Iranians can still access it via satellite and private VPN codes, and have continued to tune in even after authorities imposed an unprecedented nationwide communications blackout on January 8.<\/p>\n
Thousands of Iranians managed to send the channel videos of the crackdown, broadcast after verification. Many also sent audio or written testimonies describing atrocities they had witnessed.<\/p>\n
Farnoosh Faraji, a senior journalist, scrolled through images of piles of bodies, a man killed by a bullet in his back, and armed forces firing on fleeing protesters.<\/p>\n
“Honestly, it’s horrible. At the beginning I couldn’t believe it. I thought maybe the images were made with AI,” said the journalist, who fled Iran in 2012.<\/p>\n
– ‘Shocked by brutality’ –<\/p>\n
Part of the digital team, she spends her days analysing footage of the bloodshed.<\/p>\n
“I promised myself to be strong. I must help my people, this is part of my job,” she said.<\/p>\n
Presenter Reza Mohaddes said: “We were shocked by the brutality of the regime. How can you do this sort of things to your own people?”<\/p>\n
On Sunday, the channel reported that at least 36,500 people had been killed by security forces during the January 8-9 crackdown, citing newly obtained classified documents and accounts from medical sources and families.<\/p>\n
The anti-government demos were sparked by economic grievances in late December, but soon turned into mass street rallies against the Islamic republic.<\/p>\n
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said Monday it had confirmed that 5,848 people had been killed, adding it was still investigating another 17,091 possible fatalities.<\/p>\n
Launched in 2017, Iran International “was created to be the voice of truth, the voice of the people of Iran,” Mohaddes said.<\/p>\n
The channel estimates its weekly audience is “probably now over 40 million,” said spokesman Adam Baillie.<\/p>\n
It is one of several Persian\u2011language outlets critical of Iran’s clerical leadership operating from abroad, including the London\u2011based station Manoto.<\/p>\n
According to Baillie, Iran International is the most-watched television channel inside Iran and is also followed by the large Iranian diaspora.<\/p>\n
The newsroom employs about 200 journalists, with correspondents in Washington, Paris, Berlin and Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n
Iran International is regularly accused of receiving backing from Saudi Arabia — claims the station denies.<\/p>\n
“Our investor is a British-Saudi national. But it is not … controlled by Saudi Arabia. It’s nothing to do with the Saudi Arabian state,” said Baillie.<\/p>\n
– Anonymous threats –<\/p>\n
He insisted the station is independent and supports neither Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s former shah who has backed the sweeping protests, nor Israel, contrary to allegations from Tehran.<\/p>\n
Working at Iran International “you need a lot of courage … You have to be quite tough,” said Baillie.<\/p>\n
“The threats against the channel have grown exponentially since we began. We’ve never been free of them … but it has reached another level”.<\/p>\n
Faraji recalled how her best friend, who is still in Iran, was arrested and forced by police to send her a message urging her to resign.<\/p>\n
Mohaddes recently received an anonymous email threatening to kill him and also to blow up the building.<\/p>\n
Like previous threats, the message was reported to London police.<\/p>\n
In 2023, on the advice of British counter-terrorism police, Iran International was forced to shut down and temporarily broadcast from Washington for seven months.<\/p>\n
In March 2024, one of the channel’s reporters was stabbed near his London home, spurring an investigation by Scotland Yard.<\/p>\n
Britain’s foreign ministry has also summoned Iran’s most senior diplomat to protest “serious threats” against journalists living in the UK.<\/p>\n
“I’m not afraid at all,” insisted Mohaddes. “We’re all fighting to get rid of this brutal regime.”<\/p>\n
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