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Iranian Journalist freed on bail, but 11 others still held
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Source : Reporters Without Borders |
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Iranian Journalist freed on bail, but 11
others still held
21.12.2007
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December 21, 2007
Yaghoub Salaki Nia, a journalist who had spent 50
days in Tehran’s Evin prison without being charged,
was freed on 19 December after payment of 80 million
toumen (80,000 euros) in bail. Eleven other
journalists are still detained in Iran, the Middle
East’s biggest prison for the press.
“We cannot welcome Nia’s release without at the same
time thinking of the other journalists still held in
appalling conditions, often in solitary
confinement,” Reporters Without Borders said. “They
include Adnan Hassanpour, who has been awaiting
execution for the past several months.www.ekurd.net
There has never been any
letup in the Islamic Republic’s repression of
journalists in these past few years. An
international campaign is more necessary than ever.”
A contributor to several publications including
Shamesse Tabriz, Ahrar and Omid Zanjan, Nia had been
arrested on 30 October. |
Kurdish journalists
Adnan Hassanpur (L) and Hiwa Botimar sentenced to death
by the Iranian Islamic regime
عدنان حسن پور و هیوا بوتیمار |
Adl Mazri, the editor of
the newspaper Sobh e Zahedan, was released on 12
December, four days after being summoned by a
revolutionary tribunal in the southeastern city of
Zahedan and arrested on charges of publishing false
information and “disturbing public opinion” as a
result of a complaint by the prefect of Sistan and
Baluchestan province. He is now awaiting trial.
Ashtai, a weekly published in Kurdish and Farsi that
was suspended on 5 August, was closed for good on 3
December by a court in the city of Sanandaj, the
capital of the northwestern province of Kurdistan.
Arzesh, a conservative quarterly, was at the same
time closed by a court in Tehran and its editor, Ali
Nazari was fined 1,200 euros.
A European parliamentary delegation called for
Hassanpour’s release during a visit to Tehran from 9
to 11 December. Hassanpour’s death sentence was
upheld by the Tehran supreme court on 22 October.
Plight of imprisoned journalists
The authorities have still not revealed where they
are holding Omid Ahamadzadeh, a contributor to Aso
and Didgah, two newspapers that have been suspended
since 2005. The reasons for his arrest by
intelligence officers in Sanandaj on 28 November are
also still unknown. The official news agency ILNA
did however report that Abolfazl Abedini Nasr of the
daily Bahar Khozestan has been charged with
“complicity with a terrorist entity.” Arrested on 13
November in the southwestern city of Ahvaz,www.ekurd.net
he is reportedly
suspected of links with someone responsible for a
bombing.
A hearing in the appeal of journalist and human
rights activist Emadoldin Baghi was held on 15
November in his absence.
The former editor of Jomhouriat (a daily suspended
in 2004), Baghi is appealing against the three-year
sentence he got from a Tehran revolutionary court
for “activity against national security” and
“publicity in favour of government opponents.” He
has been in solitary confinement in Evin prison
since his arrest on 14 October.
The many requests for the release of reporter Ejlal
Ghavami of the weekly Payam-e Mardom-e Kurdestan on
health grounds have been ignored. Ghavami, who needs
an operation for an acute eye infection that is
discharging pus, is serving a three-year sentence in
Evin prison for “inciting people to revolt” and
“activity against national security.” The editor of
Payam-e Mardom-e Kurdestan, Mohammad Sadegh Kabovand,
has not been able to take advantage of a conditional
release order because his family cannot raise the
amount of bail demanded, which is 150 million toumen
(145,000 euros).
Said Matinpour of the weekly Yarpagh has meanwhile
been allowed to receive a visit from his family for
the first time since his arrest on 28 May.
rsf org
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the journalists who have been sentenced to death in
Iran
Iranian Kurdistan
**
Iranian Kurdistan (Kurdish: Kurdistana Îranę or
Kurdistana Rojhilat (Eastern Kurdistan) or Rojhilatę
Kurdistan (East of Kurdistan)) is an unofficial name
for the parts of Iran inhabited by Kurds and has
borders with Iraq and Turkey. It includes the
greater parts of West Azerbaijan province, Kurdistan
Province, Kermanshah Province, and Ilam Province.
Kurds form the majority of the population of this
region with an estimated population of 4 million.
The region is the eastern part of the greater
cultural-geographical area called Kurdistan.
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