(TPS) Iran sought to kidnap two journalists — one of whom is Israeli — by luring them to a Turkish city near the Iranian border.
“The plan was to bring me and another journalist to Van, near the Iranian border, and then abduct us into Iran,” Babak Itzhaki, an Israeli reporter for Iran International, a Persian language satellite television channel headquartered in London, told The Press Service of Israel.
“It’s terrifying to think how close they came to carrying this out.” The incident took place one year ago, but surfaced when IranWire published details of the incident on Saturday. IranWire is a dissident news site operated by professional Iranian journalists in the diaspora with citizen journalists inside Iran.
“This is not the first time I’ve faced threats from the Iranian regime,” Itzhaki noted. “There have been at least three prior attempts to harm me—one in Turkey and another in Georgia. In those cases, Israeli intelligence agencies and police alerted me beforehand.”
According to IranWire, Itzhaki was the primary target of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp plot. The second journalist sought by the IRGC has not been publicly identified.
Itzhaki told TPS-IL that the Iranians planned to use a former Iranian political prisoner, Mohammad Hovshmzadeh, to lure him and the other journalist to Van, which is 100 km from the Turkish-Iranian border. Hovshmzadeh previously worked in Turkey. The two would have been kidnapped and smuggled across the border into Iran.
But the plot went awry when Hovshmzadeh backed out at the last minute, Itzhaki told TPS-IL.
“He was pressured to help lure us to Van but stood firm, along with his associate. That resistance is likely why they are now facing such harsh punishment from the regime, even outside Iran’s borders,” Itzhaki told TPS-IL.
“I first learned about it from IranWire. Until then, I had no idea the regime was targeting me and my colleague in Turkey for an abduction,” he added.
“Journalists are the eyes and ears of the public, especially for those suffering under oppressive regimes,” Itzhaki emphasized. “By targeting us, Iranian authorities are trying to blind the world to their abuses. It only proves how much they fear the truth being revealed.”
Hovashmzadeh’s decision to back out of the plot came at a cost, as Itzhaki noted. He was arrested in Armenia in July 2023 and sentenced to over three years in prison for “illegal border crossing.” Hovashmzadeh’s is now in the Armavir Prison in Vagharshapat. IranWire suggested that Hovashmzadeh’s arrest was engineered by Tehran in revenge.
In recent years, Iran has made several attempts to abduct or murder journalists abroad.
In October, US prosecutors indicted IRGC Brig.-Gen. Ruhollah Bazghandi for his role in an attempt to assassinate Iranian journalist and human rights activist Masih Alinejad outside her Brooklyn home in 2022.
More recently, several Iranian journalists working in Britain were attacked, harassed or threatened in March and April.
Said Itzhaki, “The global community, particularly organizations that champion press freedom, must take a firmer stand against these threats. Silence only emboldens regimes like Iran to escalate their attacks on journalists worldwide.”
In light of the ongoing investigation, the Foreign Press Association (FPA) has expressed serious concern about any attacks on journalists and the broader implications for press freedom. “As the FPA works to gather further details, it remains crucial that the international community upholds its commitment to safeguarding the rights of journalists and ensuring their safety, as these are fundamental to a free and democratic society,” the association stated in a comment to TPS-IL.
