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Reporters Without Borders: A call to Iran
to release Kurdish journalists
11.1.2007
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Call for end to
harassment of media after new wave of arrests of
journalists
January 11, 2007
Reporters Without Borders yesterday Jan. 10, called
for the release of Ali Farahbakhsh and Kaveh
Javanmard, two journalists who have been held since
late last year, and urged the Iranian authorities to
put an end to a wave of arbitrary arrests and
harassment of media personnel that is taking place
throughout the country.
“From Tehran to the northern Kurdish region, the
harassment of journalists has been stepped up yet
again,” the press freedom organisation said.
“Journalists who dare to criticise President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad are accused of every kind of crime
ranging from spying or threatening state security to
treason. These are all just pretexts for tightening
the gag on the press.”
Farahbakhsh is a business journalist who contributes
to the daily Sarmayeh. He also used to write for
several pro-reform dailies such as Yas-e no and
Shargh that have been shut down. He was arrested in
Tehran on 27 November on his return from a trip to
Bangkok, where he took part in a conference about
the media held by Thai organisations.
His arrest was kept secret for 40 days until
revealed by the Union of Journalists. His family has
been able to visit him but was ordered to say
nothing about his detention. The director of prisons
for the Tehran region, Sohrabe Soleymani, confirmed
on 7 January that he is being held in Evin prison.
There has been no indication of what charges have
been brought against him.
A total of 21 Iranian journalists were also detained
at Tehran airport on their return from training in
the Netherlands in November, and were questioned for
several hours. Their laptops, notebooks and other
material were confiscated. Some of them subsequently
reported being summoned for questioning by the
intelligence services.
Crackdown on journalists in Kurdistan province
north-IRAN
Kaveh Javanmard was detained in a wave of arrests,
bans and acts of intimidation that followed a visit
to the Kurdish north by President Ahmadinejad and
culture minister Mohammad Hassan Saffar Harandi in
September. The crackdown included the closure of two
weeklies, Navai Vaghat and Kaziveh, for “separatism”
in November. Journalists with another newspaper,
Didgah, decided to suspend publication at the end of
December after receiving threats of intelligence
agencies.
The authorities also targeted the staff of the
weekly Krafto, which is based in the capital of the
Kurdish region, Sanandej. One of its journalists,
Ako Kurdnasab, was arrested in a polling station on
16 December while covering elections for the
municipal government and Committee of Experts. He
was freed on bail on 3 January pending trail on
charges that are not yet known.
Javanmard also works for Krafto. He was arrested at
his home by officials from the ministry of
intelligence on 18 December and is still being held
at Sanandej prison without being charged. Two days
after his arrest, the newspaper’s publisher, Lila
Madani, and her editor in chief, Iraj Ebadi, were
ordered to report to the Sanandej courthouse.
rsf org
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