Iran sexterices Bahari to 13 years inprison, 74 lashes - Contttee to Protelttp://cpjorg/2010/05/iran-sentences-bahari-to-13-years-in-prison-74-lasphp
C Committee to ProtectJournalists
Defending Journal is: s Worldwide
Iran sentences Bahari to 13 years in prison, 74 lashes
New York, May 10, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a
13-year prison sentence handed down to Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar
Bahari (hftp://www.cpi.orq/taqs/maziar-bahari ) in absentia on Sunday.
Newsweek correspondent Bahari, who was held in detention for four months on
manufactured anti-state charges in 2009, was sentenced by a Tehran
Revolutionary Court on Sunday to 13 years in prison, in addition to 74 lashes.
Bahari received a sentence of five years in prison for “congregation and mutiny
with the intent to commit crimes against national security,” four years for “collecting
and keeping confidential and classified documents,” one year for “propagation
against the regime,” two years for “insulting the [ Supreme] Leader,” six months for
“insulting the President,” and one year and 74 lashes for “disruption of public order.”
Authorities interrogated Bahari for four months, he told CPJ, and coerced him to “confess” to a host of serious criminal
acts on Iranian television. He was then convicted for an entirely different set of crimes.
“We condemn the conviction of Maziar Bahari,” said CPJ's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, Mohamed
Abdel Dayem. “Bahari's trial bears absolutely no resemblance to a legal process. The sentence is arbitrary and punitive
and is unrelated to the initial charges, which were themselves falsified. The conviction is a reminder to us that the dozens
of Iranian journalists who remain in jail (http://cpj.org/2010/05/iran-remains-worlds-worst-jailer-of-journalists.php) are at
the mercy of a cruel and vindictive regime.”
Bahari has been part of an international camDaian (http://www.oursocietvwillbeafreesocietv.org/) that includes CPJ
called “Our Society Will Be a Free Society,” advocating for the release of imprisoned Iranian journalists and writers, and
has made numerous statements and appearances on their behalf.
Today CPJ and the Overseas Press Club of America sent a letter to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
( http:Ilcpi.org/2010/O5lletter-from-cpi-opc-to-iran.php) calling on him to bring an end to a nearly year-long campaign of
harassment and intimidation of critical Iranian journalists working domestically and abroad. The letter was signed by
nearly 200 prominent media figures who attended the Overseas Press Club's awards ceremony in New York on April
22.
May 10, 2010 4:52 PM ET I Permalink (http://cpi.orq/201 O/05/iran-sentences-bahari-to-13-years-in-prison-74-Ias.php )
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