IRANIANS JOURNALISTS PROTESTED LIMITATION OF PRESS FREEDOM
TEHRAN 8 Aug. (IPS) Hundreds of Iranian journalists inside and outside the country put their pens down for more than three hours as others observed a symbolic sit in to protest growing crackdowns on journalists and limitations on freedom of the press in the Islamic Republic.
In a statement, the protesters denounced the "miserable conditions" of Iranian journalists, urged the authorities to dismiss Tehran and Islamic revolution tribunal Prosecutor Judge Sa’id Mortazavi, better known as "The Butcher of the press" and called on the Minister of Islamic Guidance to resign, accused of failing to defend the "legitimate and legal rights of journalists".
They also named the conservatives-controlled Expediency Council, the Judiciary and the Council of Guardians, as well as the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, chaired by President Mohammad Khatami, as the main bodies responsible for violating and limiting press freedom in Iran.
The protesters also called on the reformists-dominated Majles (Parliament) to approve a press law that was withdrawn three years ago on the personal intervention of Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, the leader of the Islamic Republic.
In a related development, journalists who had participated at an official gathering for naming Iran’s Journalists of the Year walked out of the ceremony protesting the nomination of three journalists working for the State-run, conservatives-controlled Radio and Television without mentioning photographers like Kaveh Golestan and Ms. Zahra Kazemi or journalists like Akbar Ganji or Ahmad Zeydabadi.
Mr. Golestan, an internationally acclaimed photographer and cameraman, died four months ago in the Iraqi Kurdistan while covering the Allied operations in Iraq for the BBC.
Eyewitnesses told Iran Press Service that even some of the award winners refused to accept the honours in protest to the "one sided and biased" nominations.
None of the owners of newspapers and publications had joined the symbolic protest movement, which was hotly contested and criticised by all leading conservatives-controlled media.
The peaceful protest movement, decided jointly by the Iranian Association for the Defence of Press Freedom (IADPF) and the Association of Iranian Journalists (AIJ) on the "Journalists Day" was supported by some international press organizations like the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres as well as the Association of Iranian Journalists Abroad (AIJA), based in Rome.
"Amid continuing clamour about the death of photojournalist Zahra Kazemi while in custody at the start of July, Reporters Without Borders today voiced concern about the imprisonment of a total of 21 journalists in very harsh conditions in Iran, many of them in a wave of arrests in the past few weeks, the RSF said in a statement issued on the occasion.
"With 21 journalists held, the Islamic Republic of Iran is the biggest prison for journalists in the Middle East", RSF added, noting that about the fact that half of the detained journalists are being held by aides of Mr. Mortazavi and by revolutionary guards in the same centre where the Canadian-Iranian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi received the blows to the head that caused her death.
In their statement, the journalists also demanded that an independent international committee investigate the death of Ms. Kazemi.
RSF’s Secretary-general Robert Ménard said the 8 August sit in was symptomatic of the discontent within the profession, pointing out that Reporters Without Borders had registered more than 50 cases of journalists being arrested or called in for questioning over a month. A total of 24 journalists were currently in prison and Reporters Without Borders called for their release.
The international press watchdog voiced particular concern about the conditions in which some of these journalists are being held. The wife of Reza Alijani, detained since 14 June, told the ISNA news agency that she did not recognise her husband during her last prison visit because he had lost so much weight. The wife of Taqi Rahmani has received no word of him since his arrest on 14 June. Her requests to visit him have all been turned down, as have the requests made by the wives of several other detained journalists.
Rahmani, Saber and Alijani were arrested on 14 June and Amir Tairani on 17 June in the capital Tehran, on charges including "attempting to overthrow the state, acting against national security and holding secret meetings with students".
In a statement, the London-based international human rights organisation Amnesty International said it fears that they may be at risk of torture and ill treatment.
The latest to be detained include Abolqasem Golbaf, editor of the monthly Gozaresh, who was arrested on 20 July for "propaganda against the regime and publishing incorrect information".
In an article published prior to his arrest, Mr. Golbaf claimed that during interrogation, Judge Mortazavi had told him to go finding a "more honest job than journalism".
Three members of the monthly’s staff, illustrator Arash Noporchian and journalists Mohammad-Amin Golbaf and Nader Karimi, were also arrested on 26 July, but were then freed two or three days later.
Hoseyn Bastani, Vahid Pour-Ostad and Sa’id Razavi Faqih, three members of the editorial staff of the reformist daily "Yas No", and Chahram Mohammadi-Nia, editor of the weekly "Vaqt", were summoned for questioning by the Tehran public prosecutor on 11 and 12 July and were then imprisoned. Yas No had published a note on 10 July explaining that it had prepared a detailed report on the 9 July demonstrations but had received orders from the Intelligence Ministry not to publish it.
Accused of publishing "an improper photo and article", Mohammadi-Nia was jailed after failing to pay bail of 100 million Rials (about 11,000 euros). Bastani, Pour-Ostad and Mohammadi-Nia were released between 16 and 20 July, but Faqih is still being held, as is freelance journalist Arash Salehi, who was arrested on a Tehran street.
Iraj Jamshidi, the editor of the economic daily "Asia", was arrested together with his wife, managing editor Saqi Baqernia, on 6 July for "publicity against the regime" after publishing a photograph of Mojahedeen Khalq’s leader Maryam Rajavi the day before. Baqernia was released on bail the following day, but Jamshidi was put in Evin prison in Tehran and was then moved to an undisclosed location. Ismail Jamshidi, editor of "Gardon" (a monthly that has been closed by the authorities), was detained 7 July. Since then, there has been no word of him.
Ensafali Hedayat, a journalist in Salam, was released on 12 July after spending 27 days in solitary confinement in the main prison of Tabriz. In a letter to President Mohammad Khatami, he said senior police officials beat him more than 300 times while in detention. He said he was lucky not to have suffered the same fate as Zahra Kazemi. (See the article entitled "ANIMALS HAVE MORE RIGHTS THAN IRANIANS" published by IPS on 6 August)
In letters recently published in the Iranian press, Abas Abdi the former Editor of "Salam", arrested on 4 November 2002 and is being held in solitary confinement, Ali-Reza Jabari of "Adineh", arrested on 17 March and the 78 years-old Siamak Pourzand, arrested on 30 March, have described the appalling situation of political prisoners, illnesses, mistreatments, physical and psychological pressure to which they are subjected. ENDS JOURNALISTS DAY 8803
http://www.iran-press-service.com/