‘Crime against truth’: Sobh Media Festival alumni condemn Israeli attack on IRIB

The alumni of the International Sobh Media Festival have strongly condemned the Israeli regime’s acts of aggression against Iran, including the deadly airstrike on the news building of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB)

In a statement issued on Tuesday, several media professionals, activists and filmmakers who have been part of the festival in its three editions denounced the regime for its deliberate acts of terrorism, blatant violation of Iran’s sovereignty and principles of international law.

The prestigious annual media festival is organized by the world service of IRIB.

The Israeli aggression, which began on June 13, has led to the martyrdom of more than 600 people, including women and children.

The signatories to the Sobh Festival statement denounced the June 16 strike on the IRIB’s iconic “Glass Building”, which left several journalists and staff members dead or injured.

According to the statement, the “brutal attack” was an attempt to silence the “voice of the voiceless” that has consistently uncovered Zionist atrocities, particularly the regime’s genocidal crimes in Gaza.

The IRIB, the statement noted, has played a central role during the Israeli campaign of genocide in Gaza by broadcasting uncensored, on-the-ground reports of war crimes by Israel, bringing to light the suffering of Palestinians, especially women and children.

Its continuous coverage has challenged censorship and exposed the systematic destruction of hospitals, refugee shelters, and residential areas by the Israeli occupation forces.

“Israel’s destruction of the Glass Building was an act of revenge but also an attempt to silence the truthful, transparent voice, which, however, will find its way, like pure water,” the statement read.

The Sobh alumni drew a direct connection between the attack on the IRIB and the regime’s broader policy of targeting journalists, pointing to the assassination of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and the killing of nearly 300 journalists during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza that started in October 2023.

“The systematic atrocities against the media violate international law, namely the Geneva Conventions and UN Security Council resolutions, which explicitly prohibit attacks on journalists during armed conflicts,” the statement added.

The IRIB Glass Building has long served as a hub for uncensored, transparent reporting. The place has also been a central venue for the Sobh festival, consistently amplifying the voices of the oppressed, notably during times of war and humanitarian crisis.

To honour the memory of journalists martyred in the aggression against the Glass Building and to defend the sanctity of free media, the signatories to the Sob Festival statement proposed that June 16 be designated as the “International Day of the Oppressed Media of Truth.”

“In reverence to the pen, it is fitting that June 16, 2025, the day Israel attacked the IRIB building…be designated as the International Day of the Oppressed Media of Truth.”

Israel’s strike on the IRIB sparked widespread outrage and renewed calls for global action against the regime’s ongoing war on journalists, truth, and international law.

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