Human Rights Experts: Iran Must End Harassment of Journalists
United Nations human rights experts and investigators have called on the Islamic Republic to stop the detention, intimidation, and prosecution of journalists and civil activists, and to release imprisoned journalists ahead of the parliamentary elections.
A group of UN human rights investigators and experts issued a statement on Wednesday (November 11) calling for an end to the arrest, intimidation, harassment, and legal prosecution of journalists in Iran. They also urged the country’s judicial authorities to release imprisoned journalists and civil activists ahead of the parliamentary elections in Iran.
According to Reuters news agency, the UN experts’ statement also called on Iran to release Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post correspondent in Tehran, who has been “arbitrarily and illegally detained for peacefully exercising fundamental rights of citizens.”
The 39-year-old Jason Rezaian, who holds dual Iranian-American citizenship, has been in detention since last summer. He was tried in a closed-door court presided over by Judge Salavati on charges of “espionage and actions against Iran’s national security” and was convicted a month ago, but his verdict has not yet been issued. It is reportedly believed that Iranian authorities intend to use him as leverage for negotiation in prisoner exchanges with Iranians detained in the United States.
The latest wave of journalist arrests in Iran began last week by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ information protection unit. The detention of these journalists, labeled as “enemy infiltrators” by media outlets close to the Guards, was met with a reaction from Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s president. He called on responsible authorities to stop filing cases against journalists “to exert pressure and settle political scores with the government.”
Ahmad Shaheed, the United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, in response to the arrest and summons of journalists in Iran for interrogation, described these actions as “a new round of suppression of freedom of expression and media freedom.”
Read more: Government and Guards Disagree Over Detention of “Infiltrators”
Issa Saharkhiz, journalist and political activist; Ehsan Mazandarani, editor-in-chief of Farhekhegan newspaper; Afarin Chitsaz, columnist at Iran newspaper; Hassan Sheikh Aghaei, manager of Ravaneh website; and Saman Safarzaei, secretary of Andisheh Poya publication, are among the journalists who have been arrested in the recent crackdown. It is reported that more than 20 journalists have also been summoned for interrogation by the Guards’ information unit.
Reporters Without Borders listed Iran in March of this year as one of the countries in the world with the highest number of imprisoned journalists, with 46 imprisoned journalists. Iran is known as the “hell for journalists” in the world.
