Saeed Karimian, director of the Gem TV television network, was sentenced in absentia in March 2017 on charges of “propaganda against the state” and “actions against national security.” His family was later taken hostage in Iran in order to forcibly shut down Gem TV. As a result, Karimian closed Gem TV and his family members were subsequently released. Karimian was shot and killed on April 29, 2017.

In 2006, Karimian and his brother founded a television network in London, Gem TV. The network was not very active in its early years, but after 2009, it began to broadcast a variety of foreign movies, TV series and music programmes. 

In early March 2017, Karimian was tried in absentia for his activities with the television network. Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Courts of Tehran, presided over by Judge Mohammad Moghiseh, sentenced Karimian to six years in prison on charges of “propaganda against the state” and “actions against national security.”

Less than two months after this sentencing, on April 29, 2017, Karimian was assassinated by armed assailants in the Sarıyer district of Istanbul in Turkey. Karimian was in a high-end vehicle with a Kuwaiti businessman when he was murdered. During the shooting, Karimian was struck by 27 bullets and died on the spot. Three bullets also struck the Kuwaiti businessman who died on his way to the hospital.

The Kuwaiti consul in Turkey confirmed the identity of the businessman who died in the shooting with Saeed Karimian as Mohammad Mutab Shalahi. The Kuwaiti media described Shalahi as a “philanthropist” and an important figure in the “Matir” tribe of Kuwait.

The Anadolu Agency, the official state-run Turkish news agency, reported that Karimian’s assailants had set fire to their vehicle in the Kemerburgaz district of Istanbul and fled the city. 

The mayor of the Sarıyer district of Istanbul later spoke about the motives behind Karimian's murder saying that, based on initial investigations, it was financially motivated.

The Gem TV network’s Facebook account published a statement following the murder of Saeed Karimian. The statement described Karimian's murder as “an act of terrorism”. However, the statement did not provide any further details about the incident.

Shortly after Karimian's death, his family told BBC Persian that he had been threatened by the “Iranian regime” three months before his death and that he had wanted to return to London.


Arrest of Karimian’s Killer

About a month after Saeed Karimian’s murder, on May 18, 2017, “Milliyet, a Turkish newspaper, reported that one of the individuals who had carried out Karimian’s assassination had been arrested. In the news report on the arrest, the Milliyet wrote: “The perpetrator of the murder of the director of ‘JEM TV’ [sic] has been arrested by the Serbian police. They were of Iranian nationality and had wanted to travel to Europe from Montenegro on counterfeit passports.”

A relative of the Karimian family told Radio France Internationale [RFI] that the perpetrator had been handed over to Turkish police.


Karimian’s Family Held Hostage

In September 2019, Judge Gholamreza Mansouri fled Iran after he was accused of taking bribes of more than 500,000 euros. Almost three years after Saeed Karimian’s murder and prompted by the accusations against Judge Mansouri, Karimian’s colleagues at the Gem TV network published a post on social media which announced that Judge Gholamreza Mansouri had taken Karimian’s family hostage several years ago in order to force him to shut down the television network.

The statement read: “He (Gholamreza Mansouri) was the one who took Saeed Karimian's entire family hostage in 2012 to blackmail media outlets such as Gem TV. Judge Mansouri imprisoned his family in the most secure prisons in the country and in the worst possible conditions for a long time.”

According to Gem TV, Judge Mansouri tried to force Karimian into closing the television network by arresting his brothers and sister, but “even after a temporary closure of the Gem TV network for 10 days, he refused to release them.”

Gem TV continued by saying that in addition to putting pressure on Karimian's family, Gholamreza Mansouri also pressured other members of staff at the network. The culmination of this pressure and blackmail “eventually led to the assassination of Saeed Karimian in 2017.”

The statement continued: “His (Gholamreza Mansouri's) abuse of power did not end with Mr Karimian’s family and other staff at Gem TV but he also pressured the families of staff at other independent media and broadcasting networks.”

Gholamreza Mansouri did not respond to the statement by staff at Gem TV. He was killed in a hotel in Romania shortly after the post was published on social media in June 2020. Gholamreza Mansouri had been detained at the time and was under police surveillance while he awaited extradition to Iran for trial.


Restrictions on Artists in Iran

The Gem TV network often made headlines – especially after a group of Iranian actors and directors joined the network. In the years before Karimian's death, the network produced a number of Persian language television series in which Iranian actresses were depicted without wearing a hijab. The themes and ideas that these TV series addressed were different to domestic Iranian TV series that were broadcast by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.

Likewise, the announcement that certain Persian language films that were due to be screened in Iran would be broadcast on the Gem TV network provoked strong reactions from Iranian figures and even caused the domestic screenings of a number of the films to be cancelled. The Film “The Problem of the Universe” was one of the films that was banned by an order from the judiciary and the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. The film was banned after Gem TV had broadcast a trailer of the film on their channel. Although their films were not banned, the producers of other films were summoned to the Culture and Media Courts for similar reasons. 

In 2016, the Public Relations Department of the Cinema Organization of Iran issued a statement regarding the broadcast of movie trailers on the Gem TV network. An excerpt of the statement read: “After talks and agreement with the Iranian judiciary and considering the numerous warnings and statements made by high-ranking judicial officials, any cooperation with dissident networks are to be considered a criminal offence.”