ILNA Reporter Insulted, Beaten for Approaching Hassan Khomeini

The security team of Hassan Khomeini, a grandson of the Islamic Republic’s founding father, assaulted an ILNA reporter while he was trying to take a picture of the cleric, the semi-official news agency says.

The incident happened on May 31 in the Tehran headquarters of the Ettelaat Institute, which publishes a newspaper of the same name, during an event marking the first anniversary of the death of the institute’s director Mahmoud Doa'ei.  

According to ILNA's report, the journalist approached Khomeini and former President Mohammad Khatami to take a photo of the men, when two bodyguards forcibly removed him from the event.

“Initially, they confiscated his mobile phone, subjecting him to continuous physical and verbal abuse,” the report said. “Simultaneously, another individual in the hall persistently targeted the journalist with insults, punches and kicks, while the head of the security team focused on scrutinizing the reporter's mobile phone and private messages."

The bodyguards and intelligence officials confiscated the journalist’s ID card and mobile phone, and held him for one hour.

ILNA condemned the bodyguards’ "inappropriate action," calling it a flagrant attack on freedom of the media.

Khomeini's office did not immediately comment.