LONDON: The British government on Monday summoned Iran’s top diplomat in London to condemn “serious threats” to the lives of UK-based journalists, after a Persian-language TV network was forced to relocate.

Charge d’Affaires Mehdi Hosseini Matin was hauled in “to make clear the UK will not tolerate threats to life and media freedom”, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement.

The private network Iran International announced on Saturday that it had been forced on UK police advice to shut down its London studios, and had switched to 24-hour broadcasting from Washington.

The station has provided extensive coverage of anti-government protests that erupted in Iran five months ago, and said two of its senior journalists received death threats in response to their reporting.

“I am appalled by the Iranian regime’s continuing threats to the lives of UK-based journalists and have today summoned its representative to make clear this will not be tolerated,” Cleverly added.

“The UK will always stand up to countries who threaten our fundamental values of freedom of expression and the media.” The diplomat, Iran’s most senior representative in London in the absence of an ambassador, was directed to meet with the head of the UK foreign ministry’s Middle East department.

London’s Metropolitan police said on Saturday that working with the MI5 spy agency, since the start of 2022, it had foiled 15 plots “to either kidnap or even kill” people seen as “enemies of the (Iranian) regime”.

But the decision to ask Iran International, which employs around 100 journalists in the British capital, to shutter its office sparked concerns from rights groups.

“UK is certainly able to guarantee the safety of #IranInternational. It’s a question of political will,” said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group.

“I hope it’s a temporary measure and that @IranIntl will resume its work from London soon,” he added on Twitter.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2023