UPDATE - IRAN
25 June 2008
Kurdish journalist sentenced to 11 years in prison; Tehran daily closed for
criticising President Ahmadinejad
SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris
(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders firmly condemns the 11-year prison
sentence imposed on Kurdish journalist Mohammad Sadegh Kabovand on 22 June
2008 for "activity against national security." The organisation has also
learned that the daily "Tehran Emrooz" was closed on 21 June, a few days
after running several articles criticising President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's
economic record while mayor of Tehran.
"The authorities have no scruples about using unfair trials to convict
journalists on trumped-up charges," Reporters Without Borders said. "No
consideration was given to Kabovand's poor health, either. This especially
severe sentence is a message to all those who do not kowtow to the regime,
especially in the Kurdish northwest. The decision to close 'Tehran Emrooz'
was taken without referring to any court. President Ahmadinejad uses
government commissions to settle his political scores."
The former editor of "Payam-e Mardom-e Kurdestan", a weekly closed down in
2005, Kabovand received his 11-year sentence from a Tehran revolutionary
court for creating a human rights organisation in Iran's Kurdish region.
Since his arrest in July 2007, he has been held in Tehran's Evin prison,
where he spent the first five months in solitary confinement.
Despite his health problems, Kabovand was unable to taken advantage of a
provisional release order prior to his trial because his family was unable
to raise the exorbitant bail that was demanded - 150 million toumen
(approx. 145,000 euros).
Kabovand suffered an acute dizzy spell in his cell on 19 May and his wife,
who visited him the day before his sentence was pronounced, told Reporters
Without Borders he continues to have periods of dizziness and headaches
against which the medicine he is being given in prison is having no effect.
"This verdict shows how the authorities persecute journalists and human
rights activists in Iran," she said.
Kabovand's lawyers, Nemat Ahamadi and Mohammad Sifzadeh, protested
vehemently against the sentence, describing it as "political." They also
condemned the court's decision to hold the trial behind closed doors.
"Tehran Emrooz" is owned by current Tehran mayor Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf,
who plans to run against Ahmadinejad in next year's presidential election.
It was closed by the Commission for Press Authorisation and Surveillance,
an offshoot of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, after
publishing a detailed report mocking Ahmadinejad's economic record while
mayor from 2003 to 2005.
The newspaper's printer was summoned by a court the day after the article
came out to answer to charges of "printing images and editorial content
insulting to the president" and "spreading lies with the aim of upsetting
public opinion." The newspaper was forced to publish an official apology,
acknowledging that the criticism had not been "moderate."
Updates the Kabovand case: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/94263
For further information contact Hajar Smouni, RSF, 47, rue Vivienne, 75002
Paris, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 78, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51, e-mail:
mideast@rsf.org, Internet: http://www.rsf.org
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