UPDATE - IRAN
30 May 2008

Afghan journalist freed after 86 days in detention
SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris
(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders welcomes the release of Afghan
journalist Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, the editor of the monthly "Haqoq-e-Zan"
(Women's Rights), on 29 May 2008, after being held for 86 days, in an
intelligence ministry prison, in the holy city of Qom (150 km southwest of
Tehran).
"Nasab was held arbitrarily for three months," the press freedom
organisation said. "The conditions were difficult and he was in solitary
confinement for most of the time. He has been released conditionally and is
not allowed to leave the country. We urge the authorities to drop the
charges against him."
A refugee in Iran for the past 24 years, Nasab was arrested on 4 March in
Qom, where he lives. The arrest was carried out by intelligence ministry
personnel, who had an order issued by a special court for the clergy.
"According to the arrest warrant I was shown, I was accused of having
suspicious relations with foreign embassies but the interrogation to which
I was submitted was mainly about my journalistic activities and the
articles published in 'Haqoq-e-Zan'," Nasab told Reporters Without Borders.
Copies of the resettlement requests he had sent to the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which were found during a search of
his home, were also used to accuse him of "publicity against the
government" and "publication of false information."
Nasab spent 81 of the 86 days in solitary confinement, and suffered kidney
and chest pains that were not treated.
Updates the Nasab case: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/92406
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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