Secretary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights Kazem Gharibabadi said on Tuesday that a court of justice in the capital of Iran has filed a lawsuit to probe into the role of London-based TV channels [Iran International TV and BBC Persian] in instigating riots in the country.
Further details on the influence of the TV channels in the riots will be released later, he noted.
Riots broke out in Iran in mid-September after the death of Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old fainted at a police station in Tehran and was pronounced dead three days later in a hospital.
An official report by Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization concluded that Amini’s death was caused by illness rather than alleged blows to the head or other vital body organs.
Rioters went on rampage across the country, brutally attacking security officers and causing massive damage to public property as Western powers, especially the United States, provided support.
Funded by Saudi Arabia, the so-called 'Iran International TV' channel was founded in London in 2017 as part of a propaganda campaign against the Iranian government.
The television channel has openly been promoting monarchists, the highly-notorious Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) terror group, and most significantly, separatist terrorists, in violation of the UK’s own media regulations.
Recently, Tehran designated the channel as a terror organization over its role in fanning the flames of violence during riots in Iran.
Earlier, Iran’s minister of culture and Islamic guidance Mohammad-Mahdi Esmaeili said that Tehran does not consider the UK-based Persian media outlets as news media but “terrorist media”, as reflected in their coverage of recent deadly riots in Iran.
The “pseudo media”, he noted, has sought “to foment insecurity and division” in the country.
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