The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the escalating crackdown on press freedom in Iran on Tuesday and urged Iranian authorities to immediately cease their systematic persecution of journalists and media organizations.

This development comes in the wake of the conviction of six media activists from both private and state-affiliated outlets by political-press courts in Iran last month. Those arrests themselves seem to have been triggered by a series of incidents, the latest of which was an explosion at a munitions company, which killed one individual and injured two. The CPJ stated that they had emailed the Iranian mission to the UN in New York for comment on the suppression and detention of journalists, but have yet to receive a response. CPJ’s regional director Sara Qudah stated:

These systematic attacks are clear examples of censorship, media repression, and obstruction of the free flow of information… We condemn the Iranian authorities’ ongoing persecution of journalists and media outlets, which creates an environment of fear and intimidation.

These types of media crackdowns are not entirely new in Iran. In 2020, Iranian authorities had raided the homes and offices of numerous journalists, with many being forced to shut down their social media accounts. Those raids apparently started about the time of widespread protests in Iran in connection with rising fuel prices and continued following the downing of a Ukrainian airliner.

Iran has come under high scrutiny from various rights organizations in recent months. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) called on Iranian authorities in February to drop all charges against journalists and to respect press freedom. Last week, 300 global figures urged UN intervention to prevent politically motivated executions in Iran. In January, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) accused Iran of escalating its crackdown on human rights lawyers and other dissenters as part of its expanding suppression.