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July 8, 2014\u2014The United States should reinstate sanctions on Iran\u2019s state TV and radio broadcasting agency, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), for the continuation of its widespread human rights violations, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today. The US Treasury had issued a six-month waiver of IRIB sanctions in February 2014, which expires in August.<\/p>\n
In a new briefing paper released today, Iran\u2019s State TV: A Major Human Rights Violator, the Campaign details IRIB\u2019s routine filming and broadcasting of forced confessions by detainees, and Iran\u2019s continued practice of jamming international satellite broadcasts, which allows the Islamic Republic to block content and restrict Iranians to state-approved broadcasts. These are both practices for which the US Treasury originally sanctioned IRIB in February 2013.
\n\u201cIt is critical at this juncture that the US demonstrate that Iran must honor the international commitments it makes in word and deed,\u201d said Hadi Ghaemi, Executive Director of the Campaign. \u201cIRIB continues to be a central tool of state repression; it has not earned the continuation of the waiver.\u201d
\nThe briefing paper documents IRIB\u2019s active collusion with security and intelligence officials to extract confessions, which are often elicited under torture and then used to discredit and convict detainees. The paper\u2019s Appendix documents multiple forced confessions recently broadcast by IRIB. In addition, IRIB broadcasts show trials and false \u201cnews\u201d reports to conceal human rights violations, and airs defamatory content to discredit dissidents.
\nThe paper also addresses the issue of Iran\u2019s satellite jamming. Following an international campaign during 2010-2013 against Iran\u2019s international satellite jamming, Iran ceased engaging in the direct jamming of satellites. Consequently, the US Administration decided in February 2014 to waive its sanctions on IRIB for a 180-day period, based on this cessation.
\nHowever, in the new paper, the Campaign presents data showing that Iran has actually just altered its method of jamming: instead of sending jamming signals directly to the broadcasting satellites (a practice known as \u201cuplink\u201d jamming), Iran has intensified its practice of local jamming (also known as \u201cdownlink\u201d or \u201cterrestrial\u201d jamming), whereby the jamming signals are directed at the local receptors of the satellite signals, usually rooftop satellite dishes inside Iran.
\nThe result is still the same: the authorities are able to block all content at will. Persian-language news broadcast such as BBC Persian, VOA Persian, Radio Farda, and Manoto TV are particularly targeted.
\nIRIB\u2019s sanctions waiver expires in August 2014. At that time the Campaign urges the US Treasury to reinstate the sanctions on IRIB in full. The sanctions on IRIB should be removed only when Iran ceases all signal jamming and IRIB completely ends its active collusion with security and intelligence officials in the filming and broadcasting of forced confessions, show trials, and defamatory \u201creports.\u201d
\nTo download the briefing paper, Iran\u2019s State TV: A Major Human Rights Violator, click here.<\/p>\n
Listen to the Campaign\u2019s Iran Rights Podcast
\nFor the latest human rights developments in Iran visit the Campaign\u2019s website
\nFor interviews, contact Hadi Ghaemi at +1-917-669-5996
\nFollow the\u00a0Campaign on Facebook and Twitter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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