Iran is world's top jailer of'journalists - Conimittee to Protect Journalists org/2009/07/iran-is-worlds-top-jailer-of-journalistsplip
C Committee to ProtectJournalists
Defending Journal is: s Worldwide
Iran is world's top jailer of journalists
New York, July 7, 2009--With at least 30 journalists currently in prison, Iran replaces China (http:llcpi.orq/reports
/ 2008/12/cpis-2008-prison-census-online-and-in-iail.php) as the world's worst jailer of journalists, the Committee to
Protect Journalists said today. CPJ called on the Iranian authorities to release all journalists who have been detained
following the country's disputed June 12 presidential elections.
CPJ research shows that at least 24 detained in the aftermath of the elections remain in custody, in addition to at least
six (http:Ilcpi.orq/imprisoned/2008.php#iran) iournalists who were in detention (http://cpj.orq/2009/04/iranian-bloqqer-
detained.php) prior to the disputed elections. In the past few days three journalists have been freed, while at least three
others have been arrested.
Of the 30 journalists currently behind bars, 13 work primarily for print publications, three work for online publications, two
work for television stations, six are primarily bloggers, and an additional six are freelancers or with unknown affiliations.
“The Iranian authorities have orchestrated a campaign against journalists of all types since the June 12 presidential
elections,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Mohamed Abdel Dayem. “Despite some isolated
releases, the number of journalists behind bars is at an all time high. The authorities should immediately release all the
detained journalists.”
On Sunday, Iranian authorities freed lason Athanasiadis, a freelance reporter who was detained on June 17. He had
traveled to Iran to cover the presidential election and was arrested at the Tehran airport as he was leaving the country.
Greek authorities intervened on his behalf and helped secured his release. Iranian authorities also released on Sunday
Mustafa Qwanlu Ghajar, a journalist with the monthly magazine Sepideb Danaei who also blogs at Ghaiar
( http:I/www.qhajar.ir/) . He was arrested on June 22, according to local news reports. Mojtaba Pour-Mohssen, editor-
in-chief of the daily Gilan Imrouz and contributor to Radio Zamaaneh, an Internet radio station, was released last week,
according to local news reports. Authorities arrested Pour-Mohssen on June 15 in Rasht, northwest of Tehran.
Meanwhile CPJ has confirmed the arrests of three additional journalists, Massoud Bastani, Issa Sahar-Khiz and Kambiz
Nouroozi, who were detained recently.
Below is a list of journalists who remain in custody as of July 7. The names reflect those whose detention
could be independently verified by CPJ.
Massoud Bastani, Jomhoriyat
DETAINED: July 5, 2009
Bastani, husband of detained journalist Mehamsa Amrabadi, was arrested when he was went to a Tehran court seeking
information about his wife's whereabouts, according to multiple (http:llwww.ham mihannews.com/news/4944) local
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( http:llparlemannews.com/index.aspx?n=1603) news (http: / /www.mirhusein.net
/ showthread.php?s=96c35d9282f87330a331 dl 01 1735c75c&p=2867#post2867) reports (http://www.qhatreh.com
/ news/3616076.html) . He works for Jomhoriyat, a news Web site affiliated with the defeated reformist candidate
Mir-Hossein Mousavi. His wife, Amrabadi, was arrested along with two other journalists on June 15. According to local
and international rights groups Amrabadi, who is pregnant, is being held at Evin Prison.
Issa Sahar-Khiz, freelance
DETAINED: July 3, 2009
Sahar-Khiz, a freelance journalist and founding member of the Association of Iranian Journalists, was arrested while
traveling in north of Iran, the Association said (http://rooznameneqar.ir/main.php?t=5&id=1075) in a statement. It also
reported that the family has been informed of the arrest by phone. Sahar-Khiz is the former director of the press
department at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and is a supporter of defeated candidate presidential Mehdi
Karroubi, according to news (http://www.radiofarda.com/content/F7 _ Saharkhiz _ Bastani _ RSF/1 770589.html) reports
( http:Ilwww.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,4456832,00.html) .
Abulfazl Abedini , freelance
DETAINED: June 30, 2009
Abidini, a freelance journalist and human right activist, was arrested in Ahwaz in southwest Iran on June 30, according to
the U.S.-backed Radio Farda. Security agents searched his house before taking him, the radio station reported. Abidini
was also arrested last year after he reported on a strike by workers at a factory in Ahwaz.
Kambiz Nouroozi, Association of Iranian Journalists
DETAINED: June 28, 2009
Uniformed officers arrested Nouroozi, director of legal affairs at the Association of Iranian Journalists, in Tehran, the
Persian service of the BBC reported (http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2009/06/090629 nm ir88 brief norouzi.shtml) .
He contacted family members to inform them that his case will be referred to the Revolutionary Court, the BBC reported
( http:llwww.bbc.co.ukIpersianIiranI2009IO6IO9O629 nm ir88 brief norouzi.shtml) .
Mujtaba Tehrani, Etemad e Melli
DETAINED: June 27, 2009
Tehrani, a reporter with the newspaper owned by defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi, was arrested on his
way home, according to Saham News, a news Web site affiliated with Karroubi. According to Saham News, Tehrani had
informed his family that he was returning home from work, but never arrived. The following day police visited his home,
searched it, and took his computer, the Web site reported.
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Names unknown (3), Kalameh Sabz
DETAINED: June 22, 2009
Although 25 staffers of Kalameb Sabz, a newspaper owned by defeated presidential contender Mir-Hossein Mousavi,
were initially detained, Ayande News, a self-described independent news Web site, reported on June 29 that 22 of them
had been released.
Alireza Beheshti, Kalameh Sabz
DETAINED: June 22, 2009
Beheshti, editor-in-chief of Kalameh Sabz, was arrested on June 22 as he was leaving the newspaper, according to
several local news reports. His arrest came hours after security agents detained about 25 staffers, local press reported.
Maziar Bahari, Newsweek
DETAINED: June 20, 2009
Security agents arrested Newsweek's Tehran correspondent, Maziar Bahari, the magazine reported
( http://www.newsweek.com/idl203036 ) . The officers, who did not identify themselves, took Bahari's laptop and several
videotapes, according to Newsweek. On June 30, Fars News agency posted (http:llwww.farsnews.net
lnewstext.php?nn=8804091286) an 11-page “confession” from Bahari in which he allegedly blames Western media
groups for the unrest that followed the contested June 12 presidential elections.
Zhila Bani-Yaghoub, Iranian Women's Club
Bahman Ahmadi Omavi, Affiliation unknown
DETAINED: June 19, 2009
Bani-Yaghoub and Omavi, who are married, were arrested by security forces in Tehran, the U.S.-funded Radio Farda
reported (http:/ /www.radiofarda.com/contentlF8 JILA BAHMAN ARRESTII759O4O.html) . Bani-Yaghoub is the editor-
in-chief of the Iranian Women's Club, a women's rights Web site (http:llirwomen.netl) . lshrat Awliai, Bani-Yaghoub's
mother, told the Iranian Women's Club on July 1 that since her arrest Bani-Yaghoub has contacted her family just once
from Evin Prison. The mother also said that during the raid security agents took two computers and mobile phones.
Rajab-Ali Mazroui, Association of Iranian Journalists
DETAINED: June 19, 2009
Mazroui, director of the Association of Iranian Journalists, was arrested on June 19, according to multiple local news
reports. The details of his arrest in Tehran remain unknown.
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Muhammad Ghouchani, Etemad e Melli
DETAINED: June 19, 2009
Ghouchani, editor-in-chief of Etemad e Me/li, which is owned by defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi, was
arrested on June 19 by Ettelaat intelligence agents, the BBC Persian service reported (http://www.bbc.co.uklpersian
1 1g 1iran 12009 106 1090620 ba-ir88-qhouchani.shtml) . On June 30, Javan, a newspaper aligned with President Mahmoud
Ahmedinejad, published a “confession” allegedly made by Ghouchani, although the paper only identified him by his
initials. The newspaper reported that Ghouchani confessed to having been trained in a Persian Gulf country in
preparation for a revolution.
Saeed Laylaz, Sarmala
DETAINED: June 17, 2009
Lilaz, a journalist for the daily business journal Sarmaia and a vocal critic of President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad's
economic policy, was arrested in his home on June 17, his wife, Sepharnaz Panahi, told the BBC Persian service
( http:llwww.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2009/06/090617 op ir88 arrests continue.shtml)' . She said that officers searched
their home and confiscated videotapes, hard disks, and letters. The family doesn't know where Lilaz is being held, the
BBC reported. Sarmaia also reported (http:/Iwww.sarmayeh.net/PDF/88-03-28/P2.pdf) the arrest.
Karim Arghandehpour, blogger
DETAINED: June 17, 2009
Arghandehpour, a journalist who blogs at Futurama (http:llfuturama.ir/J , was arrested on June 17, according to news
reports. Arghandehpour wrote for the now-defunct reformist newspapers Salaam and Vaghaa-ye-Ettefaaghyeti,
according to the Tehran Bureau, a news Web site.
Mohammad Ali Abtahi, blogger
DETAINED: June 16, 2009
The well-known blogger Abtahi (http:llwww.webneveshteha.com/) , who is an advisor to the defeated presidential
candidate Mehdi Karroubi and was vice president during Mohammad Khatami's presidency, was arrested on June 16,
the BBC Persian service reported (http:/Iwww.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2009/06/090616 he ir88 abtahi-arrest.shtml) . A
blog entry (http://www.webneveshteha.com/en/) on his site states that he will resume writing as soon as he is released.
His wife, Fatima Abtahi, told the BBC that three men in plainclothes visited their home in Tehran and took him away.
Sumaia Tawhidlu, blogger
DETAINED: Mid-June
Tawhidlu, who blogs at Sahel e Salamat ( http:llwww.smto.iri9 and is a supporter of defeated reformist candidate
Mir-Hossein Mousavi, was arrested in mid-June in Tehran, according to local news reports. The precise date of her
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arrest is unknown.
Ahmad Zaid-Abadi, Rooz Online
DETAINED: Mid-June
Zaid-Abadi, a well-known journalist who writes a weekly column for Rooz Online, a Farsi and English reformist news
Web site, was arrested in mid-June in Tehran. Zaid-Abadi is also the director of the Organization of University Alumni of
the Islamic Republic of Iran and a supporter of the defeated candidate Mehdi Karroubi. The details of his arrest remain
unknown.
Mehamsa Amrabadi, Etemad e Melli
Behzad Bashbo, date unknown
Khalil Mir-Ashrafi, date unknown
DETAINED: June 15, 2009
Amrabadi, a reporter for Etemad e Melli newspaper, was arrested on June 15, her mother, Maryam Naqi, told
( http:llwww.bbc.co.uklpersian/lg/iranl2009/06 1090620 ba-ir88-qhouchani.shtml) the BBC Persian service. Naqi told the
BBC that the Ministry of Justice informed her on June 18 that her daughter was being held at Evin Prison. On June 17,
Ham Mllian, a news Web site, reported that the cartoonist Bashbo and television producer Mir-Ashrafi were guests at
Amrabadi's home in Tehran when all the three were detained.
Shiwa Nazar-Ahari, blogger
DETAINED: June 14, 2009
Nazar-Ahari, a blogger (http:l/azadiezan.mihanblog.coml) and a member of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters,
a local watchdog group, was arrested by Ettelaat intelligence agents in her Tehran office on June 14, the committee
reported (http:/lchrr.uslspip.php?article4306) .
Kayvan Samimi , Nama
DETAINED: June 14, 2009
Samimi, manager of the now-defunct monthly magazine Nama, was arrested on June 14 in Tehran, according to multiple
online articles.
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