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Former UK-based TV Presenter Arrested in Iran
Former UK-based TV Presenter Arrested in Iran
17 May 2016 by Editor

Mansoureh Hosseini, an Iranian former presenter for the UK-based Manoto TV, has been arrested in Iran, just a few months after she returned to the country.

The semi-official news website Jahan News reported the arrest on May 14, 2016.

Hosseini worked as a presenter for Manoto TV, a Persian-language entertainment satellite channel based in London, UK, for about six years.

Under Iranian law, all broadcasting must exclusively be government-operated, and privately owned satellite dishes are illegal in the country. Manoto TV and other foreign Persian-language television channels, including BBC Persian, are considered “anti-revolutionary” media by the Iranian authorities.

It is not known exactly when Hosseini returned to Iran, but according to Iranian media she retired from Manoto TV and went back to her home country about three months ago. Her return became publicly known when she appeared at the prestigious Fajr Film Festival in Tehran last month.

Iranian dual citizens, or Iranians who have lived abroad, face a high risk if they choose to return in Iran, especially journalists.

On April 3, 2016, a media charity worker with dual Iranian-British citizenship was arrested while visiting her family in Iran. She has since been held in solitary confinement “in connection with threats to national security.” For more than a month after her arrest, she was not allowed to see the family’s lawyer or her 22-month old daughter, Gabriella, who was with her in Iran.

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