Iran releases some journalists, vilifies foreign press

          
          Iran releases some Journalists, vilifies forei press. Contrdttee to Protec... lttp://cpJ org/2009/06/iran-releases-some-J our alists-vilifies-ftrei -pr.pl
          C Committee to ProtectJournalists
          Defending Journal is: s Worldwide
          Iran releases some journalists, vilifies foreign press
          New York, June 30, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the Iranian authorities to immediately
          release all jailed journalists and to stop vilifying the foreign press. CPJ also welcomed the release of a number of
          employees of the reformist newspaper Kalameh Sabz who had been held since June 23.
          In recent days, the Iranian government has launched a campaign designed to malign the foreign press, blaming
          demonstrations that followed the contested June 12 presidential elections on foreign news media, particularly British and
          U.S. news outlets. On June 19, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed foreign media for social unrest, calling it
          “evil” for allegedly misleading and agitating the Iranian people. According to Iranian news reports, an official also claimed
          that the BBC, not government gunmen, had shot Neda Agha Soltan, the demonstrator whose death was caught on
          camera and broadcast across the world, purportedly to agitate the people of Iran against the government.
          Fars News agency today posted an 11-page “confession” (http:Ilwww.farsnews.netlnewstext.php?nn=8804091286) by
          Tehran's Newsweek correspondent Maziar Bahari, who was detained on June 21, in which he is reported to have said,
          according to a translation on The Washington Post's Web site: “The activities of Western journalists in news gathering
          and spying and gathering intelligence are undeniable.” The document also claims Bahari said: “I, too, as a journalist and
          a member of this great Western capitalism machine, either blindly or on purpose, participated in projecting doubts and
          promoting a color revolution.”
          “The Iranian government invited international media to cover the presidential campaign when they wanted to showcase
          the elections,” said CPJ executive director Joel Simon. “When journalists covered the street protests that erupted in the
          disputed aftermath, the government turned on the media, essentially blaming journalists for doing their job.”
          In a separate development, Ayande News, a self-described independent news Web site, reported
          ( http:llwww.ayandenews.com/fa/pages/?cid=9403) that 22 of the 25 jailed employees of Kalameh Sabz, the reformist
          newspaper owned by defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, were released on Monday. Alireza Hosseini
          Beheshti, manager of Kalameh ,Sabz, told the site that three editorial staffers remain behind bars. Over the weekend,
          authorities also released Life.com photographer Amir Sadeghi, who was arrested about a week earlier.
          “We welcome the news of the release of the Kalameh Sabz staffers and Amir Sadeghi,” said Mohamed Abdel Dayem,
          CPJ's program coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa. “The Iranian authorities should now release the rest of
          Kalame Sabz's employees and the many other journalists who are being held.”
          On June 23, Iranian security agents arrested (http://cpi.org/2009/06/iranian-newspaper-raided-25-employees-
          detained.php) the Kalameh Sabz employees, according to local and international news reports. Editor-in-Chief Alireza
          Beheshti Shirazi told the Farsi-language service of German broadcaster Deutsche-WeIIe hours before his arrest that
          armed plainclothes agents had detained employees who had visited the office to collect their salaries that day.
          The government has blocked the paper, among others (http:llcpi.org/2009/06/iran-censors-newspapers-
          amid-unrest.php) , from being published since June 14.
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          Iran releases some journalists, vilifies forei press. Committee to Protec... http://cpj ,org/2OO9/O6/iran•releases•some•journalists-vilifies-forei •pr.pl ,
          On Saturday, another journalist was arrested. Mujtaba Tehrani, a reporter with Etemad e Me/li, the newspaper owned
          by defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi, was detained while returning home from his office at reported
          Satiam News, a Karroubi affiliated Web site. The site said that on Sunday police searched Tehrani's house and
          confiscated his computer.
          Following the country's June 12 presidential elections, which gave a landslide majority to President Mahmoud
          Ahmedinejad, protests over the results of the elections have been held in cities cross Iran. The government has cracked
          down on the media and journalists in an attempt to control of the flow of information.
          Authorities have arrested (http:/lcpj.orq/2009/06/more-journalists-arrested-in-iran-cpj-seeks-their.php) dozens of
          journalists since June 12. Most of the detained journalists work for the local media, although two (hftp://cpi.orq/2009/06
          / in-iran-massive-media-crackdown-enters-second-week.php) of them work for international news organizations,
          according to CPJ research.
          June 30, 2009 6:27 PM ET I Permalink (http://cpj.org/2009/06/iran-releases-some-journalists-vilifies-foreign-pr.php )
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