Legislative Elections in Iran: Voters Deprived of Independent Information

Next January 21, 57 million Iranians are to elect the 290 deputies of the 11th Parliament of the Islamic Republic. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) deplores the repression and censorship imposed on all the media, who find themselves unable to carry out their information mission during this election.

Legislative elections are locked in advance. The government media openly organize the regime’s propaganda, while the authorities censor and supervise the work of all the media. The instructions are clear: we must at all costs encourage the population to participate in the elections. It is also a question of encouraging the return in force of the conservatives close to supreme guide Ali Khamenei. Faced with the elimination of critical or moderate voices, many personalities close to the reformers or the opposition called for a boycott of the election.

Journalists who have published information on social media on corrupt candidates have been summoned by various intelligence services or threatened by supporters of the candidates. Since January 8, 2020, at least 21 journalists have been interviewed across the country . The homes and workplaces of six of them were searched by Revolutionary Guards.

In addition, Iranian and binational journalists working for independent media based outside Iran continue to be threatened by the regime. Everything is being done by the Islamic Republic to deprive the Iranians of independent sources of information.

” Censorship of the Iranian media, already multifaceted and omnipresent, was further strengthened on the eve of the parliamentary elections on February 21 ,” denounces the Iran-Afghanistan zone manager for RSF, Reza Moini. However, without a free press allowing the population to access independent information, an election is neither free, fair, nor democratic. “

A total of 24 journalists and citizen journalists are currently in prison, making Iran the seventh largest prison in the world for media professionals.

Iran ranks 170th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2019 World Press Freedom Index