Canadians among journalists threatened by Iranian authorities, Britain-based outlet says

Globe and Mail

06-08-2025

Two Canadian reporters for Iran International, a popular Persian-language news outlet, have been threatened by Iranian authorities in a bid to stop them reporting on Tehran's regime, the organization's legal team says.
In the past six weeks, 45 journalists and 315 of their family members worldwide have been menaced by the Iranian authorities, including with death, unless they stop working for Britain-based Iran International, the lawyers said in a statement on Tuesday.
Adam Baillie, spokesperson for the Persian-language news channel, said one of the Canadian journalists has received several threats online, including specific kidnapping threats involving being put in a bag and taken out of the country. The reporter is taking security precautions on the advice of the police.
Family members of the other Canadian reporter who live in Iran have been called in and questioned by Iranian authorities in the past, Mr. Baillie said.
'The threats are very serious, and they are being taken very seriously by the Canadian police, who continue to advise on security matters. Our journalists are mindful of their security,' he said in an interview Tuesday.
Iran International did not identify the journalists.
Opinion: Iran's new law aims to crush dissent – at home and abroad
The news outlet was founded in 2017 and has become the most-watched Persian language TV channel in and outside Iran on satellite and online platforms. Headquartered in London, with bureaus in 14 countries, its reporting is often critical of Tehran's theocratic regime.
Mr. Baillie said threats to its journalists have stepped up considerably since June. The escalation coincided with the U.S. attack on Iranian nuclear sites and Israel's offensive, which killed dozens of Iranian senior security officials, including top generals and nuclear scientists.
Last week, Canada joined a group of countries including Britain, the U.S., France, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark, to publicly condemn a growing number of threats from Iranian intelligence services on their soil.
The joint statement issued by the British foreign office said Iranian intelligence operatives were increasingly collaborating with international criminal organizations to target journalists, dissidents and others.
Last year, London-based reporter Pouria Zeraati was knifed in the leg on his way to work. Two Romanian nationals were charged with the attack.
On Tuesday, the news channel's lawyers launched an urgent appeal with United Nations experts calling on them to take action to protect the safety of journalists in seven countries: Canada, Britain, the U.S., Sweden, Germany, Turkey and Belgium.
The appeal over the 'alarming and unprecedented escalation' was lodged with five UN special rapporteurs, including Professor Ben Saul, UN special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, and Irene Khan, UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression.
Opinion: Iranians deserve a path to freedom that is also free from violence
Lawyer Mark Stephens said the threats included killing journalists as well as named family members unless they stop working for Iran International by particular deadlines, all of which expired at the end of July.
He said journalists' siblings, grandparents or nieces and nephews have been called in and interrogated in Iran.
'We do know that they've been involved in extraterritorial killings, but the thing that is markedly different here is that they're basically attacking and threatening their families to maximize the import of the message,' Mr. Stephens said in an interview Tuesday.
'They're told, 'you tell them to give up their job with Iran International by 30th of July, or you're dead, they're dead, and your brother, who lives in Turkey, is dead.''
Caoilfhionn Gallagher, counsel for Iran International, said she had worked with journalists threatened by Iran's regime for many years but that this is the most serious escalation she has seen.
'It is very, very bad, and it's in a tiny space of time. It's unprecedented in terms of the gravity of it, the spread of it, and the depth of it,' she said in an interview Tuesday.
'They've been dragging in family members in Iran. They've been interrogating them. They've been saying, 'Why does your relative work for Iran International? Why are they reporting on Iran? You need them to stop working for Iran International. And here's the deadline by which they need to do it.'
'And if they don't do it – as well as your own relative, who's the journalist – here's the list of other relatives we're going to kill.'
An alleged plot by agents of Iran to assassinate former Canadian justice minister Irwin Cotler was foiled, the RCMP told him last year.
The lawyer and founder of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, who has supported dissidents targeted by Tehran, remains on Iran's hit list and has 24-hour police protection.
Brandon Silver, policy director of the Montreal-based centre, said in a text message Tuesday that Iran's regime is the world's leading executioner per capita and 'one of the worst jailers of journalists,' so its threats against Iran International are 'particularly dangerous.'