UPDATE - IRAN
23 May 2007
Journalist gets two-year sentence; two others barred from leaving the
country; weekly paper closed
SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris
**New cases and update to alert on the Azima case of 16 April 2007; updates
alert on the Javanmard case of 11 January 2007**
(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has deplored a two-year prison
sentence imposed on a provincial newspaper journalist, as well as the
closure of a weekly paper and a ban on two journalists from leaving the
country.
"The Iranian press and its journalists continue to be the victims of
injustice and four are currently in prison," the worldwide press freedom
organisation said. "Many are hounded at their workplace, followed in the
street, thrown in prison without ever being able to see a lawyer and are
forbidden to leave the country. The ministry of culture and Islamic
guidance still exerts strong censorship and lists of banned topics are
regularly sent to editors."
Reporter Kaveh Javanmard, of the weekly "Karfto", was ordered jailed for
two years by a court in Sanandej (Iranian Kurdistan) on 17 May 2007 and
will serve his sentence at a prison in the northern town of Maragheh, more
than 300 km from his family home. He was tried in secret and was not
allowed to have a lawyer.
Court officials in the southeastern province of Sistan-o-Baluchistan went
to the offices of the weekly "Ayaran" on 21 May and shut it down, saying it
would be prosecuted for printing statements by Sunni leaders that were
"inaccurate" and "likely to inflame the public" and "spread separatist
ideas."
Journalism student Mehrnoushe Solouki, who has dual French and Iranian
nationality, has been banned from leaving the country since she was
arrested on 17 February. She had gone to Teheran last December as part of
her studies at Quebec University in Canada to make a documentary on the
aftermath of the 1988 ceasefire between Iran and Iraq. She was held in Evin
prison for a month for filming the families of the victims of violence in
the 1980s and her notes and film were confiscated. She was freed on 19
March on bail of 100 million toumen (80,000 euros) but her passport was
retained, preventing her from leaving Iran.
The passport of Iranian-American journalist Parnaz Azima was seized when
she arrived at Teheran airport on 25 January and has still not been
returned, preventing her too from leaving the country. It was also
confiscated for three weeks last year by the intelligence services. The
judge in the case has demanded bail of 400 million tounen (320,000 euros).
She has been interrogated several times by intelligence agents who want her
to work with them.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the country's Supreme Guide,
Ayatollah Khamenei, are both on the Reporters Without Borders worldwide
list of predators of press freedom.
For further information contact Hajar Smouni, RSF, 5, rue Geoffroy Marie,
Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 84, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51,
e-mail: moyen-orient@rsf.org, Internet: http://www.rsf.org