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By: Reporters without Borders
In the recent months we have seen an increasee in the arrests of
Iranian writers and journalists and this week we have hears about
the “crack-down” on Iranian women who “do not observe the hejab”.
Surely in the weeks leading up to the 18th.Tir anniversary of the
student uprising in Iran, we will witness further erosion of personal
freedoms.
In the past Reporters Without Borders hasaccused
the Iranian authorities of using the war in Iraq as a smokescreen
to arrest more journalists for criticising the government.
In the past several months - Behzad Khorshidi, Alireza Jabari and
Siamak Pourzand - have been arrested and jailed during Iran New
Year festivities after being summoned by the Adareh Amaken department
of the Teheran police, which usually deals with public morality
and is close to the intelligence ministry.
"While the eyes of the world are on Iraq, we fear the regime
is taking advantage by arresting its critics in its usual totally
arbitrary way," said Reporters Without Borders secretary-general
Robert Ménard. He called on the head of the judiciary, Ayatollah
Mahmud Sharudi, to free the journalists at once, along with nine
others imprisoned earlier.
Jabari was summoned by Adareh Amaken on 17 March and then arrested.
A translator and freelance contributor to several independent newspapers,
including Adineh, he was arrested at his office in Teheran last
28 December and freed on 6 February this year. Videotapes, books
and his computer's hard drive were seized when he was arrested.
An interview with him had appeared on 25 December in a Persian-language
newspaper in Canada, Charvand, in which he said the country's hardline
spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Guide of the Islamic
Revolution, wanted the crisis in Iran to get worse. His new arrest
may be connected with his recent statements to the media about his
conditions of detention and the pressure exerted on him to make
confessions.
Khorshidi, editor of the monthly Piramon, was summoned by Adareh
Amaken on 29 March. Since then, his family has had no news of him.
He had been arrested on 17 March in similar circumstances and then
freed a few days later.
Pourzand, who contributes to opposition radio stations
based in the United States, was arrested on 30 March and taken to
Evin prison near Teheran. He been released conditionally in early
December last year, a procedure sometimes used by the judiciary
in response to international pressure. Since he had no document
saying he had been officially released, he was liable to be arrested
and jailed again at any time.
The head of a Teheran artistic and cultural centre,
he was arrested on 24 November 2001 and last May given an 11-year
prison sentence for "spying and undermining state security"
and "having links with monarchists and counter-revolutionaries."
The court took into account the fact that he had made a confession.
He had accepted the charges and said he had no reason to defend
himself against them. His family had expressed concern that he had
been forced to confess. The Teheran appeals court confirmed his
sentence last June.
He was freed after a broad international campaign on his behalf.
He is thought to have been arrested again for refusing to make new
"confessions" and for having contacts with several film
critics.
Between 26 and 28 February, Kambiz Kaheh, who writes for the film
magazines Cinema-Jahan, Majaleh Film, Donyai Tassvir and Cinema-é-No,
Said Mostaghasi, of Haftehnameh Cinema, Mohammad Abdi, editor of
the monthly Honar Haftom, and Amir Ezati, of Mahnameh Film, were
arrested at their homes.
At the same time, Sepideh Abroaviz, Narghess Vishkai, Assal Samari
and Mehrnaz Teherani, all journalists with film magazines, were
interrogated by Adareh Amaken. Yasamin Soufi, another film journalist,
was arrested and held twice (24-26 February and 17-20 March) by
Adareh Amaken. Officials accused them of criticising the regime's
cultural policies and of being close to Pourzand.
Seven journalists sentenced to a total of 52 years
in prison
Reporters Without Borders voiced its dismay at the prison sentences
ranging from four to 11 years imposed on seven journalists today
by the Tehran revolutionary court at the end of a trial behind closed
doors. The journalists, who were also stripped of their civic rights
for 10 years, were members of the National Religious Movement, a
liberal, nationalist and Islamic grouping that has been banned since
March 2001.
"We are appalled by these sentences, which are unacceptable,"
Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard
said, noting that the journalists were not accorded the right to
a fair trial. "The Iranian regime has again shown to what degree
any peaceful protest or criticism is unwelcome in that country,"
he said. The revolutionary court was created after the Islamic revolution
and has jurisdiction over matters affecting national security and
institutions.
"We call on the European Union, which is currently in negotiations
with Iran, to make greater efforts to ensure that human rights are
respected there," Ménard said. Ten journalists are currently
in detained in Iran, which makes it the biggest prison for journalists
in the Middle-East.
The journalists sentenced today were Ezatollah Sahabi of the newspaper
Iran-é-Farda (11 years), Taghi Rahmani of the banned weekly
Omid-é-Zangan (11 years), Hoda Saber of the banned magazine
Iran-é-Farda (10 years), Reza Alijani of the monthly Iran-é-Farda
(6 years), Saide Madani of the closed monthly Iran-é-Farda
(6 years), Ali-Reza Redjaï of Asr-é-Azadegan (4 years)
and Morteza Khazemian of the closed daily Fath (4 years).
Rahmani, Madani, Redjaï and Khazemian were among a number of
people arrested on 11 March 2001 at the home of Mohammad Bastehnaghar,
a progressive opposition figure, where some 30 people were meeting
at the time of the police raid. The next day, the chairman of the
Tehran revolutionary court said the detainees had been "seeking
to promote a conspiracy against the Islamic regime." They spent
periods of varying length in detention before being released pending
the trial.
Alijani, who is his the editor of Iran-é-Farda and who won
the Reporters Without Borders - France Foundation prize in 2001,
was arrested by security agents on 24 February 2001 and was released
on bail on 16 December 2001. Saber, who is one of the editors of
his magazine, was arrested on 28 January 2001 and was released on
bail on 12 March 2002.
Sahabi, who is the son of one of the National Religious Movement's
founders as well as being his newspaper's editor, was arrested on
26 June 2000 on the orders to the Tehran revolutionary court after
attending a conference in Berlin on reforms in Iran. The conference
was considered anti-Islamic by the Iranian authorities. He was released
on bail on 21 August 2000, but was re-arrested on 17 December 2000
on charges of "anti-regime propaganda." On 13 January
2001, he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison. In December
2001, his sentenced was reduced to six months and he was freed on
2 March 2002.
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