Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting
The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) (, "Sedā va Sīmā-ye Jomhūri-ye Eslāmi-ye Īrān", lit. "Voice and Vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran", formerly called National Iranian Radio and Television until the Iranian revolution of 1979) is an Iranian state-controlled media corporation which holds a monopoly of domestic radio and television services in Iran, and is also among the largest media organizations in the Asian and Pacific regions, and a regular member of Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. IRIB is independent of the Iranian government, but its head is appointed directly by  the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. With 13,000 employees and branches in 20 countries worldwide, including France, Belgium, Malaysia, Lebanon, United Kingdom, the United States, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting offers both domestic and foreign radio and television services, broadcasting 12 domestic television channels, 4 international news television channels, six satellite television channels for international audiences, and 30 provincial television channels available countrywide, half of which are broadcast in minority-status languages in Iran, for example Azeri and Kurdish, as well as local accents or dialects of Persian. The IRIB provides twelve radio stations for domestic audiences and through  the IRIB World Service thirty radio stations are available for foreign and international audiences. It also publishes the Persian-language newspaper "Jam-e Jam". IRIB's place in Iran's civil code. According to Article 175 of the Iranian constitution, Prior to the 1979 Iranian Revolution, IRIB was known as National Iranian Radio and Television (NIRT). The constitution further specifies that the director of the organization is chosen directly by the Supreme Leader for five years, and the head of the judiciary branch, the president, and the Islamic Consultative Assembly oversee the organization. The first director after the 1979 Revolution  was Sadeq Qotbzadeh. The current director is Abdulali Ali-Asghari. The previous directors included Mohammad Sarafraz, Ezzatollah Zarghami, Ali Larijani and Mohammad Hashemi Rafsanjani. The Sima Festival is a TV productions contest sponsored annually by IRIB organization for the best producers, directors, actors and directors in multiple categories. Directors-general. The director-general of IRIB is Peyman Jebelli, who was appointed by the Supreme Leader of Iran in 2021. Controversies. Allegations of false confessions. A study published in June 2020 by the Justice for Iran and the International Federation for Human Rights said Iranian television had broadcast the potentially coerced  confessions of 355 detainees since 2010. Former prisoners stated they had been beaten and received threats of sexual violence as a means for their false testimonies to be delivered for use by the country's broadcasters. Censorship of reformists. IRIB, along with other Iranian state-run media tend to censor or silence voices or opinions of reformist politicians as well ridicule them even as the reformists are in power since most of his editorial bias is more closed to the Ayatollah and the Principlist. U.S. sanctions. Pursuant to the United States Presidential Executive Order 13628, the Islamic Republic of Iran  Broadcasting is subjected to U.S. sanctions under Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act which gives the Treasury Department the authority to designate those in Iran who restrict or deny the free flow of information to or from the Iranian people.