Iran: Security Officers Hold Isobel Yeung and Vice News Team at Gunpoint, Confiscate Belongings and Delete Footage
The Coalition For Women In Journalism vehemently condemns the regime’s aggression toward the press. The crackdown on media and journalists must end
Location: Iran, Tehran
Date: September 16, 2023
Iranian officers intimidate, surveil, and harass journalist Isobel Yeung and her VICE News crew. The team was in Iran to report on what happened in the year following Mahsa Amini’s death when they were held at gunpoint and forced to give up their footage and belongings. The Coalition For Women In Journalism denounces the scare tactics employed by the Iranian authorities to curb reporting and intimidate journalists.
“We were leaving our hotel, and eight guys surrounded our car and came in with guns held to our heads. Insisted we handed over our phones, our footage, our cameras, all our personal belongings.”
On September 16, multi-award-winning documentarian Isobel Yeung recalled the fear and intimidation she and her team faced while trying to investigate what has happened in Iran since Mahsa Amini’s death.
In September 2022, the death of a young Kurdish woman in police custody sparked nationwide women-led protests that continue to this date. Iranian authorities have arrested, detained, and imprisoned protestors, activists, and journalists in response to the uprising. Since protests began, CFWIJ has documented the imprisonment of 21 women journalists and the arrests of 44.
Yeung reveals that from the moment she and her team arrived in Iran, they were surveilled and intimidated.
“We’ve been followed literally every day since we’ve been here, every movement being tracked,” she says. “We’ve been stopped from doing interviews. Our footage has been deleted.”
The journalist says that although their phones were eventually returned, many of their personal belongings were never given back.
“This just goes to show the scale and intensity of the security apparatus here”
Yeung, known for her reporting from dangerous environments, was previously asked to leave Afghanistan by Taliban authorities for reporting on women's rights violations. Despite her seasoned background, she was astonished by the pressure she faced as a journalist in Iran.
“This just goes to show the scale and intensity of the security apparatus here,” says Isobel Yeung as she and her VICE News team flew out of Iran. “How this regime operates to strike the fear of God in people so that it is extremely difficult to get the truth out.”
Iranian journalists and media professionals face a distressing reality of harassment, intimidation, and arbitrary arrests, with charges such as spreading propaganda against the state or posing a threat to national security. The country tops the global list of imprisoning women journalists.
“Female reporters tread perilous paths, like navigating minefields.”
“Iran's regime suppresses journalists and enforces gender apartheid,” Sima Sabet, former host at Iran International, tells CFWIJ. “Female reporters tread perilous paths, like navigating minefields.”
The oppressive atmosphere not only suppresses journalistic freedom but also instills fear and self-censorship among journalists, desperate to evade punishment. A year on from the death of Mahsa and the women-led protests, the Iranian government continues to pressure, arrest, and harass journalists and their family members.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism stands in solidarity with Isobel Yeung and all Iranian journalists who suffer at the hands of the regime. We applaud Yeung's determination to report on the situation in Iran despite facing intimidation. We urge the international community to take a stand against the regime’s media crackdown and work towards ensuring the safety and freedom of journalists in Iran.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.
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