Iran’s state broadcaster denies taking televised confessions
Iran’s state media does not take televised confessions and is not present at detention sites, the head of Iran’s state broadcaster said on Sunday.
Peyman Jebeli rejected reports that Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting extracts confessions, saying confession-taking is not a media function.
He added that any confession or interrogation is carried out by the relevant judicial or security authorities, and that IRIB broadcasts only images and materials supplied to media outlets by those authorities.
Critics say IRIB routinely insults and discredits opponents, airs coerced confessions, and broadcasts allegations of foreign ties against dissenters.
Recent attempts by the broadcaster to discredit a widely shared video showing a father searching for his son’s body among hundreds of victims backfired, further eroding its credibility.
For many Iranians, the episode recalled 2022, when state TV aired coerced statements from relatives of Nika Shakarami, a 16-year-old protester, to falsely claim she had committed suicide.
