Iran state TV accuses BBC of document theft from government archives

The Guardian

Iranian state television accused the BBC on Sunday of trying to steal “artistic, historic and cultural documents” from government archives in the Islamic Republic.

The BBC had no immediate comment on the claim, coming in a report on the Iranian broadcasting company’s website, though Iran has a history of accusing the British broadcaster as operating as a cover for spies and dissidents.

The state television report said Iranian intelligence officials disrupted the alleged plot by local dependents of the BBC.

“The hostile network of the BBC – against the mores and regulations of media and international law – attempted to steal historical documents from formal archive centres through its local dependents,” the report read, citing a statement by Iran’s intelligence department.

The TV report did not elaborate.

The BBC’s Farsi-language service is not authorised to operate in Iran, and working for the network is against the law. The BBC says Tehran also blocks its broadcasts into the country.

In 2012, Iran arrested two film-makers over alleged links to the BBC. They were released later. Months later, Iran’s state TV claimed the BBC hacked its website to change the results of a poll about Iran’s nuclear programme.

In June this year Iranian documentary film-maker and women’s rights activist Mahnaz Mohammadi was jailed for five years, charged with collaborating against the state with the BBC.