The Iranian regime – second only to Turkey in imprisoning journalists last year, and identified by Freedom House as among “the worst of the worst” for press freedoms – widened its crackdown on reporters throughout this month. The Green Voice of Freedom, a site associated with the Green Movement that emerged in the aftermath of Iran’s 2009 elections, describes how it was targeted:

Iran’s Intelligence Ministry has accused the Green Voice of Freedom and a number of other Persian-language media outlets of being part of network set up by British intelligence… Tuesday’s statement claimed that “new and credible evidence” showed that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was now managing “a number of radio and television networks, as well as anti-revolutionary websites linked with elements from 2009 sedition who have fled” the country. “Sedition,” is the Iranian regime’s epithet for the opposition Green Movement.

A variety of other sites were also targeted:

The Intelligence Ministry also named opposition sites such as Kaleme, Jaras, Mellimazhabi, Norooz, Rooz, Gozar, Khodnevis and Saham news as media outlets that form a “network” tied closely to the BBC. The list also included the Persian service of Radio France Internationale (RFI), Deutsche Welle (DW), Radio Farda, The Voice of America (VOA) and Manoto, an entertainment channel.

Conspiracy theories about British influence are deeply rooted in Iran’s post-Revolution psyche. Iranian officials have long targeted the BBC more specifically, arresting the station’s journalists and even reportedly launching cyber attacks against its infrastructure.

Last year the European Union designated 17 Iranian officials for links to human rights violations associated with censorship. The regime has been criticized for not only targeting offline and online journalists, but also for persecuting “the relatives of journalists, including the relatives of those who are abroad,” in order to intimidate reporters.

Western human rights activists fear that, should Iran acquire the nuclear weapons it is widely suspected of pursuing, the regime will gain immunity from Western efforts to pressure it on human rights issues.

[Photo: Steve Rhodes / Flickr]