Freedom House annual freedom of press report ranks Iran amongst last 10 states

Freedom House published its 2015 report on the status of freedom of press in 199 countries across the globe, including Iran.

The Freedom House report classifies all countries based on the ranking they receive in three general classes of free, relatively free and not free.

Iran has been ranked amongst the 10 worst countries regarding press freedoms in the year 2015.

In a part of freedom house annual report under the subtitle of “Other Major Developments in 2015” we read:

“The Iranian authorities appeared to regard detained foreign journalists as a valuable diplomatic bargaining chip…”.

 Also under the title of “Security concerns fuel censorship, self-censorship” it’s written: “The Iranian government attempted to shape domestic media coverage of the international agreement on its nuclear program. The Supreme National Security Council instructed media outlets to praise Iran’s team of negotiators and to avoid any talk of “a rift” between top officials. The directive targeted hard-liners who have been highly critical of the negotiations—a shift from the pressure typically exerted on journalists who support President Hassan Rouhani’s reformist policies. However, hard-line elements continued to show their strength in other ways. The intelligence division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps arrested several journalists late in the year for alleged involvement in an “infiltration network” serving hostile foreign countries”.