The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)  today condemned the threats and intimidation  against journalists by Iranian authorities  who are trying to limit  media  coverage of street demonstrations  by people contesting the result of presidential elections on 12 June.

Local and foreign media have come under fire as the authorities in Tehran have tried to take the heat out of growing public anger over the counting of votes. Local journalists have come under pressure with opposition web-sites closed down in the days running up to the election and a number of Iranian reporters have been detained and arrested. 

But it is the foreign press that is now under pressure, says the  IFJ, with acts of harassment  including confiscating material and prohibition of  journalists from filming street protests. In some cases officials have been "inviting" journalists to leave the country.  There have also been reports that BBC radio and television services have suffered "heavy electronic jamming".

The correspondent of the television news channel Al Arabiyya  was told to keep his office closed for a week. Journalists from Netherlands and Belgium public broadcasting services were briefly arrested and correspondents from German ARD and ZDF received warnings not to report on anything and were not allowed to leave their hotel.

Other journalists on the spot have told the IFJ that they  are being ordered to leave the Iran as soon their visas  expire next Wednesday , a deadline  now facing most foreign correspondents. They expected the election story to have been fully reported by then, but now demonstrators continue  to  protest  over the result which gave  victory to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , but which his opponents say was rigged.

"The intimidation of media comes after President Ahmadinejad tried to blame media for his troubles," said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. "He wants to pin the blame for angry protest by Iranians on foreign media, but reporters doing their job must not be made scapegoats for this crisis. Journalists should be able to report freely and without harassment."  

The IFJ says that banning foreign media will not calm the situation but will only reinforce fears that the Iranian regime is trying to avoid independent scrutiny. "Censorship and bans on media will not convince the world that these elections were fair and nor will they cool the temperature on the streets," said White.

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The IFJ represents over 600,000 journalists in 123 countries worldwide