Two journalists working in Canada targeted by regime, Iran International network says

Demonstrators protest against the Iranian regime outside United Nations headquarters on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

OTTAWA — As Canada and other countries accuse Tehran of spreading intimidation and violence abroad, an online broadcaster says two of its journalists working in Canada are among dozens who have been targeted by regime officials in recent weeks.

“It’s very, very intense and very threatening,” said Adam Baillie, spokesman for Iran International.

Iran International covers news in Iran and the international diaspora in Persian, English and Arabic. It has covered anti-government protests that advocates say are censored within Iran.

Baillie said Canadian law enforcement officials have told one journalist to take security precautions after he received messages implying that he could be kidnapped and taken outside of Canada.

Another journalist reports Iranian authorities have been intimidating their relatives in Iran due to their work in Canada.

Baillie said the network would not identify the two journalists due to the real security risks they face.

Iran International said 45 of its roughly 745 journalists have in recent weeks received death threats from the Iranian regime in countries ranging from Sweden to the U.S.

It said 315 of its reporters’ relatives, most of them still in Iran, have faced intimidation and threats.

The London-based network said it isn’t sure what’s driving the spike in threats. It said the threats started proliferating around the time Israel and Iran were exchanging missile strikes, which ended after American strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.

“People get all sorts of messages of, ‘We know where you live, remember we watch you, remember we know all about you, we know where your family lives.’ It’s that kind of thing,” Baillie said.

He said those delivering the threats are telling their targets they must stop their reporting by a certain date or face unspecified consequences.

“It’s a bit like a mock execution. You sort of dangle the threat -- no one knows of what it is, what’s going to be carried out -- and it just adds to the general fear and anxiety,” he said.

“Then (it’s) threats like, ‘We’ll take you away, we’ll get hold of you, we’ll put your body in a bag and we’ll take you to another country.”’

U.S. prosecutors have reported two Iran-backed plots to kidnap New York-based journalist Masih Alinejad, whose work is critical of the Iranian government.

In March, a jury convicted two men in March for a murder-for-hire plot that targeted Alinejad.

Baillie said both targeted journalists in Canada are taking precautions to allow them to continue doing their work.

“The police in Canada have been very helpful,” he said, adding the authorities recognize the threats go beyond “having a hard time on social media.”

Iran’s diplomatic mission to the United Nations told The Canadian Press it would issue a response Saturday.

Iran International is coming forward a week after Canada and more than a dozen other countries called out “attempts of Iranian intelligence services to kill, kidnap, and harass people,” including journalists and Jewish citizens.

Global Affairs Canada did not specify the nature of the threats occurring in Canada and referred questions to Public Safety Canada, which has not yet provided details of the threats.

“Canada joined this joint statement to express concern over Iranian state-sponsored threats targeting individuals in Canada and in allied countries,” wrote Global Affairs Canada spokeswoman Clemence Grevey.

“Canada remains firmly committed to working with like-minded partners to protect individuals at risk of foreign interference or transnational repression.”

The department cited a G7 statement in March calling out “Iran’s growing use of foreign assassination attempts as a tool of coercion” and another G7 statement in July in which Ottawa and its peers said they are “deeply concerned by growing reports of transnational repression” from multiple countries.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press