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Iran: Kurdish journalists under sentence
of death now on 42nd day of hunger strike
25.8.2007
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August 25, 2007
Mariwan, Iranian Kurdistan, -- A journalist
watchdog group expressed concern Friday for the
health of two Iranian journalists facing the death
penalty who have been on a hunger strike to protest
their detention.
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said Adnan
Hassanpour and Hiva Botimar had consumed only water
for 42 days and quoted their lawyer, Saleh Nikhbakht,
as saying they were very weak and "will not hold out
much longer."
The group said the two were refusing to eat to
protest the conditions at Sanandaj (Sina) prison, in
Iran's Kurdish northwest, where they have been held
for more than six months.
"We hold the chief of the judicial system, Ayatollah
Hashemi Shahroudi, personally responsible for the
state of health of these two journalists, which is
the result of the appalling conditions in which they
are being held," the group said in a written
statement. "They are in solitary confinement and
their most basic rights are being flouted." |
Kurdish journalists
Adnan Hassanpur (L) and Hiwa Botimar sentenced to death
by the Iranian Islamic regime |
Reporters Without Borders said they have been
allowed to see their families only once and want to
be transferred to another prison.
Last month, an Iranian judiciary spokesman said the
two Kurdish minority journalists were sentenced to
death on the charge of "moharebeh," a term Iran uses
to describe a major crime against Islam and the
state.
The verdict is rare for journalists in Iran, despite
constant state pressure on media workers. The news
agency did not specify what crime the journalists
were accused of, and there was no word on when or
how the sentences would be carried out.
The watchdog said Hassanpour and Botimar were both
employed by a weekly called Aso, which had been shut
down by the government in 2005 for carrying articles
about the tense situation in Kurdistan province,
which borders Iraq in the western part of the
country.
Last week, the group sent a letter to U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asking him to
intervene on the journalists' behalf.
Reporters Without Borders said 11 Iranian
journalists are currently in prison, making Iran the
most repressive Mideast country with regard to media
freedom.
AP
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the journalists who have been sentenced to death in
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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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