Reporters Without Borders ranks Iran 177th of 180 in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index, down one place, in the "very serious" band. The Index cites the regime's crackdown and the U.S.-Israeli war on Iranian soil. Friday that rank still holds. [1]

Amnesty International said in May that since the February 28 attack, authorities had arbitrarily arrested more than 6,000 people, including journalists, and carried out at least 39 political executions. [2]

The Committee to Protect Journalists has been logging wartime violations since March: detained reporters, frozen assets, and at least 15 journalists still jailed, some in Evin. RSF's country file says the 2026 offensive closed outlets and cost about 100 journalists their jobs. [3][4]

The paper's Thursday ledger already refused to confuse spectacle with hangings. When the state names journalism as wartime collaboration, the hanging is the press law. Friday adds no new rank. An 88-day internet shutdown ended, with restrictions, on May 26. Senior judicial officials ordered expedited prosecutions, including on capital charges. [2] The ledger is still the hangings.

X loops the war as spectacle. The index tracks hangings. Friday adds no new rank. Journalism named as collaboration is already a press law.

-- ANNA WEBER, Berlin