Reporters Without Borders calls for the release of Farangis Mazloum, the mother of political prisoner Soheil Arabi
Reporters Without Borders issued a statement condemning the arrest of Farangis Mazloum, the mother of imprisoned civil activist Soheil Arabi in Iran.
On Wednesday, August 2, this international organization issued a statement condemning the arrest of Farangis Mazloum, the mother of "Soheil Arabi," a civil rights activist imprisoned in Iran, and wrote, "The Islamic Republic must end this illegal harassment."
A statement released by the organization states that the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran continue to pressure and harass the families of political prisoners, journalists, and citizen journalists.
Reporters Without Borders, which announced that the situation of media freedom in the Islamic Republic of Iran is worsening every day, stated in this statement that the Iranian authorities consider critical and independent journalists working for domestic and foreign media as "enemies" who must be silenced. Harassment against the families of imprisoned journalists by judicial and security officials is in line with this.
Farangis Mazloum was arrested by security agents at her sister's house on July 21 and taken to an unknown location. It is still unclear why Ms. Mazloum was arrested.
Soheil Arabi's mother had repeatedly expressed concern about her son's health in prison. Ms. Mazloum was also among those who supported the protests of the Haft Tappeh sugarcane workers.
Soheil Arabi, a photographer, blogger, and civil activist who was arrested by the Revolutionary Guards in December 2013 and sentenced to death on charges of "insulting the Prophet and insulting sacred places," had his death sentence overturned in July 2015 by a branch of the Supreme Court.
After the trial was retried and the verdict was overturned, he was sentenced to 7 and a half years in prison, but in October of this year, in addition to his previous conviction, he was sentenced again to three years of penal servitude, exile, and forced residence in Borazjan by a verdict of Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court, headed by Judge Ahmadzadeh, the head of this branch.
Previously, Reporters Without Borders had published a report stating that the Islamic Republic of Iran ranks 170th out of 180 countries in the 2019 World Press Freedom Index.
Source: Voice of America
