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Iran: Reporters Without Borders condemned
judicial harassment of Kurdish journalists
13.6.2007
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June 13, 2007
Reporters Without Borders today condemned judicial
harassment of journalists who cover demonstrations.
Four have been tried by revolutionary tribunals in
recent weeks, three of them receiving prison
sentences. Others are awaiting trial or the
announcement of the court’s verdict.
“We are dismayed by these sentences,” the press
freedom organisation said. “These journalists just
did their duty to report the news and have been
convicted for political reasons. If there is a
political activity in Iran, the media must cover it.
But once again, brute force is the government’s only
response.”
A revolutionary tribunal in the city of Sanandaj, in
Iran’s Kurdish northwestern region, sentenced Ejlal
Ghavami of Payam-e mardom-e Kurdistan (a weekly that
has been closed by the authorities since 2004)
to three years in prison
on 9 June for “inciting revolt” and “undermining
national security.” Freelance journalist Said Saedi
was sentenced to two and a half years in prison on
the same charges. The same tribunal sentenced Roya
Toloui, the editor of the newspaper Resan, to six
months in prison on 22 May. Her newspapers has been
closed since 2005.
All three journalists were arrested while covering a
peaceful demonstration outside the prefect’s office
in Sanandaj on 30 July 2005 and were held for
several months before being freed on bail. Tolui is
now abroad. Saedi and Ghavami still live in Iran.
They say that whenever they have tried to work for a
newspaper since 2005, its editors have been harassed
by the intelligence agencies.
Condemning their conviction and sentences, their
lawyer, Nemat Ahamdi, told Reporters Without
Borders: “They are journalists, and it is normal for
journalists to be out on the streets doing their job
and going to places where there are demonstrations.
This conviction is unacceptable and we are going to
appeal.”
Aso Salah of the weekly Disgah has meanwhile been
summoned to appear before the Sanandaj court on 16
June. He was arrested by intelligence operatives on
8 March after covering an International Women’s Day
demonstration, and was released on 18 March after
paying 100 million toumen (85,000 euros) in bail.
In Tehran, Bahaman Ahmadi Amoee of the daily
Sarmayeh was summoned and tried on 6 June by the
revolutionary court’s 13th division on charges of
“participating in an illegal demonstration,”
“undermining national security” and “publicity
against the Islamic Republic.” The verdict is
pending. He was arrested along with two other
journalists while covering a feminist movement’s
demonstration against “sexual apartheid in Iran” on
22 June 2006.
Kia Jahani of Kurdistan TV, who was arrested for no
clear reason in the city of Marivan on 24 February,
was freed on bail at the start of May.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Khamenei
are both on the Reporters Without Borders list of
the world’s 34 worst press freedom predators.
rsf org
**
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.
More about Iranian Kurdistan
KDPI
The Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran in Kurdish
(Hîzbî Dęmokiratî Kurdistanî Ęran) is a Kurdish
opposition group in Iranian Kurdistan which seeks
the attainment of Kurdish national rights within a
democratic federal republic of Iran.
The current
General Secretary of the Democratic Party of Iranian
Kurdistan is Mustafa Hijri
More about KDPI- Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran
** The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Kurds are not recognized as an official minority in
Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
Others estimate over 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds, some
of whom openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media.
The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish
alphabet has led to judicial persecution in 2000 and
2003
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence"
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