On the report of an Iranian hospital, the coma of a 14-year-old patient comes down to a name and a date. The box in his medical file provided to explain the reasons for his state of health is strangely empty. The doctors preferred not to fill it out, no doubt so as not to have any trouble. Was the teenager injured during a protest? Was he arrested and then assaulted in police custody? It’s hard to say, recognizes Omid Shams, 40, in a three-piece suit with a handkerchief, one evening in late November, in a discreet corner of the Blue Boar, a chic pub in central London.
“The authorities want to hide their responsibility”, points the journalist of the independent information site Iran Wire, installed in the English capital. This former lawyer is known for having created a site “anarchist” in Iran which offered, among other things, Farsi translations of the Marquis de Sade. He left the country in 2011.
Since the beginning of the demonstrations, following the death of Mahsa Amini, on September 16, Omid Shams has noticed that many official documents mention false ” heart attack “, of the “consequences of anorexia” or falls “accidental” to explain the deaths of protesters. “In the same region, in a few days, there would have been twelve falls from a roof”, he sighs.
So the investigator looks elsewhere for evidence that could uncover the truth about crimes he suspects were committed by the security forces. On his smartphone, the documentation director ofIranWire review photos and videos. Every day, ten to twelve hours in a row, he dissects each fragment of available information, geolocates the images received, traces the chronology of the lives of the demonstrators killed.
The site of about fifteen employees living in different countries having no premises, Omid Shams often works from his home. It relies on several Iranian NGOs ready to share their data and on other media based in the West. His friend Amir Soltanzadeh, full beard and long hair, reporter for the private channel Manoto TV, joins him at the bar and orders a cocktail. Both exchange on the situation of their country, their ” pain “ in the face of repression and the latest information they have been able to obtain. As if to give each other courage, the two comrades smile: “We are building our own network, between Iran and the UK. »
Propaganda and counter-media system
In London, journalists specializing in Iran, the vast majority of Iranians in exile, form an informal group. In just over a decade, the city has become the largest ” information Center ” on the Islamic Republic. This unique media ecosystem is home to a wide variety of media, both in terms of their funding and their level of opposition to the regime. IranWirean independent news site supported by Western foundations, rubs shoulders with private television channels such as Manoto TV (known for having produced nostalgic documentaries of the Shah’s monarchy), Iran International, partly financed by Saudi Arabia, or the version of the British public channel BBC Persian.
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