Iranian journalists and newspapers face charges for criticizing attack on Israel

Iran has charged several journalists and newspapers after they criticised Saturday’s strikes on Israel.

Tehran’s prosecutor’s office said it had issued charges against the pro-reform newspaper Etemad and its journalist Abbas Abdi, the financial newspaper the Jahan Sanat, the journalist Yashar Soltani and prominent filmmaker Hossein Dehbashi.

All had criticised Iran’s bombardment against Israel in response to the latter’s air strike on an Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1.

Iran fired some 300 drones and missiles late on Saturday, almost all of which were shot down by the US, UK and Israel.

In a piece published in Etemad on Sunday, Mr Abdi wrote: “Contrary to popular belief, I believe that Israel’s attack was fundamentally a reaction and did not necessitate a response from Iran.”

Mr Abdi added that attacking a country whose existence you do not recognise as a means of deterrence is “meaningless and impractical”, referring to Iran’s stance on the Israeli state.

Tehran prosecutor’s office said it had charged Mr Abdi and the newspaper under its “legal obligation to address individuals who disrupt societal psychological security”.

Yashar Soltani and Hossein Dehbashi were summoned to the prosecutor’s office after making critical comments on social media.

Mr Dehbashi called the attack “flashy, inadequate, and ineffective” and challenged authorities who claimed the strikes were “more successful than we anticipated”.

Mohsen Borhani, one local lawyer, said the indictment “doesn’t even exist” under the country’s current laws.

Jahan Sanat, a Tehran-based financial newspaper, was charged with trying “to undermine the psychological security of society and disrupt the economic stability of the nation” with its front page on Sunday.

The newspaper had said it was concerned about the hit to the economy and stock market that escalating tensions between Iran and Israel would have.

The apparent reprisals against the media follow warnings by the country’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that critics of the strikes would “face swift and resolute consequences”.