Iran’s Young Reporters Club is accusing Reuters of “recruiting spies” to operate in Iran.
On Tuesday, the Young Reporters Club, an organization tied to state broadcaster Seda va Sima, reported: “Mr. A. E., an anti-Revolutionary activist and intelligence adviser to the Zionists, is in the process of attracting spying agents, using the ploy of recruiting reporters for news services dedicated to Western intelligence agencies.”
The initials A.E. are reportedly a reference to Amirfarshad Ebrahimi, an Iranian activist outside Iran, who includes the link for Reuters’ announcement of its journalist training program on his Facebook page.
The Young Reporters Club writes: “As usual with such collaborations, all the travel and hospitality costs incurred by Iranians for the so-called reporter training are provided by the British news agency.”
The report goes on to add that: “Reuters has in recent months lost its role as a media outlet and turned into a lackey for Western politicians who want to insist that foreign sanctions in Iran have been highly effective.”
The Reuters office in Iran has already been closed and its activities suspended after a controversial report about Iranian martial arts athletes.
Reuters transmitted pictures of a group of Iranian women engaged in martial arts training and reported that Iran is training female ninja assassins to confront foreign invaders.
The report was challenged by the female athletes and became a legal concern, which also led to an apology by Reuters and a re-editing of the report.
In May, the head of the Reuters office in Iran had to appear in court in connection with this report.
