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New York, October 19 -The Committee to Protect
Journalists condemns the one-year prison sentence
given to Kurdish journalist and human rights
activist Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand by an Iranian
court.
The court declared Kabudvand, managing editor of the
bilingual Kurdish and Farsi Payam Mardom Kordestan,
guilty of "inciting the population to rebel against
the central state," according to the Italian news
Web site Adnkronos International (AKI) and CPJ
sources. The court in the western city of Sanandaj
reached the ruling on August 18, 2005, but has only
now announced it. Kabudvand has not yet been taken
into custody and is preparing to appeal.
AKI reported that Kabudvand published articles in
his weekly newspaper about torture in Iranian jails,
and advocated a federal system of government for the
Islamic republic. Kabudvand, was appointed secretary
of the Kurdistan Organization for the Defense of
Human Rights on April 9.
Over the past five years, the judiciary has closed
more than 100 publications, most of them reformist,
on vague charges of insult and blasphemy, CPJ
research shows.
Iranian courts continue to pressure dissident
journalists summoning them for questioning and
launching new criminal suits against them.
Journalist Akbar Ganji remains jailed, in addition
to many political dissidents and activists who were
detained in the broader campaign to silence critics.
Dozens of prosecutions are pending in the courts.
"The conviction of Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand
represents yet another blatant violation of press
freedom in Iran," CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper
said. "We call for the immediate and unconditional
release of all Iranian journalists who have been
unjustly imprisoned for practicing their
profession."
www.cpj.org
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