Three journalists working for newspapers in Tehran confirmed to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that they had been contacted by the Ministry of Intelligence in recent days and invited to a meeting with officials from the ministry. Explaining the calls, one of the journalists said: “They called my mobile phone two to three times a day from unknown numbers. Finally, after three days, I answered and a man who introduced himself as a colleague of the Ministry of Intelligence asked me to have a “friendly” meeting with him at the restaurant of the Laleh Hotel in Tehran.” The journalist, noting that the focus of the conversation was the failure to change the red lines, said that the official she met with had told her: “Don’t be fooled again, no one will do anything for you, you don’t belong in prison, don’t think that something special has happened with the change in the composition of the parliament in favor of the reformists, you are under surveillance, you may not be arrested for now, but your writings will be recorded in your file.”
Another political journalist told the campaign in the same regard: “It is strange to me that the Ministry of Intelligence summoned our Rouhani government and said, ‘Don’t think that anything has changed with the government and parliament, be careful with your activities. Why should you become a wedding and mourning hen? Who has ever done anything for you?’” The journalist said that he raised this surprise with an agent he met at a Tehran hotel and received the following response: “The structure of the Ministry of Intelligence has nothing to do with its minister. It has had the same structure and the same hand in all periods. The red lines are constant.” The journalist also said that most of the meetings with journalists he knows have been at the Laleh Hotel and the Tehran Hotel, and some have been invited to the Ministry of Intelligence’s follow-up office at the Vali Asr intersection.
The male journalist said: "I was also asked about the four journalists who were arrested in November. They asked me if I knew them? Which of them did you work with? And they said, 'Look, no one can do anything for them.'"
He is referring to four journalists who were arrested in November last year. Issa Saharkhiz, a journalist and political activist; Ehsan Mazandarani, a journalist and editor-in-chief of Farhikhtegan; Afarin Chitsaz, a columnist for Iran; and Saman Safarzai, the international editor-in-chief of Andishe Pouya, all of whom except Mr. Saharkhiz have been tried and have faced heavy sentences. In addition to these journalists, Davoud Asadi, the brother of Houshang Asadi, a journalist living in France, was also arrested. Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei, the lawyer for Ehsan Mazandarani and Davoud Asadi, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran on May 27 that the Revolutionary Court had sentenced Ehsan Mazandarani, a journalist and editor-in-chief of Farhikhtegan, to 7 years in prison; Ehsan (Saman) Safarzai, a journalist and international editor-in-chief of Andishe Pouya, to 7 years; Afarin Chitsaz, a columnist for Iran, to 10 years; and Davoud Asadi, the brother of Houshang Asadi, one of the editors of the RoozOnline website, to 5 years in prison.
Maryam Azadpour, the mother of Afarin Chitsaz, told the Campaign on May 11 that her daughter was abused during interrogations, saying : "While my child was blindfolded, they hit her with a water bottle to extract a confession. But this abuse was not from her main interrogator. The main interrogator treated her and us with great respect. We will follow up on this behavior by raising it with her judge."
Afrin Chitsaz's mother, stating that her daughter was not well, said: "Afarin is very depressed and sick. She spent six months in a solitary cell measuring 2 meters by 175 meters, only having time to breathe twice a day for half an hour in the prison's backyard, surrounded by only a wall. During all these six months, she was in the cell with only the same clothes she was arrested in. They wouldn't even let us give her another set of clothes. Of course, now she has been to the general ward, which is much better compared to her previous condition. Apart from her mental disorder, Afrin has kidney pain and severe heart palpitations. She has been to the prison's infirmary several times, but they only gave her painkillers there."
Journalist Houshang Asadi also told the Campaign on May 28 about his brother’s condition: “Last week, he was transferred to Ward 8 of Evin Prison, but before that he was in solitary confinement in Ward 2-A of the IRGC in Evin. I have heard that Davoud spends most of his time hunched over in a corner in Ward 8 and is even afraid to talk to other people. This young man, who has never been socially or politically active in his life, has been kept in solitary confinement for months, and now he is so depressed and scared that he is not willing to communicate with others. This is the most blatant violation of human rights, this is the worst behavior, arresting and punishing someone who is not a political activist just to advance your goals.”
On April 27, Alizadeh Tabatabaei , Davoud Asadi’s lawyer, explained his client’s charges to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, saying that he was charged with conspiracy against national security due to financial ties between him and his brother. Mr. Tabatabaei said that his client had stated in his defense in court that he was not aware of what the money his brother was sending was for.
Houshang Asadi said in this regard that the amount sent to his brother was related to the medical expenses of their elderly father: "Our account was not secret and we did not do anything secret. If, according to the security apparatus, this money was spent for other purposes, the document does not show this. Because they themselves knew that this accusation was completely false. I feel that by arresting my brother, they wanted to show me and other political activists abroad that they can harass our family members instead of us."
According to ILNA news agency, coinciding with World Press Freedom Day (May 5), 230 Iranian journalists sent an open letter to President Hassan Rouhani, calling for his attention and investigation into the situation of these detained journalists. The letter states: “After more than 6 months, 4 of our colleagues have been sentenced to a total of 27 years in prison by the court of first instance, headed by Judge Moghiseh, and another of our colleagues has been hospitalized in Tehran Heart Hospital for more than two months and is struggling with death.”
Less than a month after the arrests, Ahmad Khatami, a member of the Assembly of Experts, claimed on Monday, December 29, that the journalists had made confessions and spoke of the accusation of “colluding with America.” In his speech , he claimed : “Recently, journalists who were arrested for colluding with America stated in their confessions that they took articles from some people, paid them money, and then manipulated the articles and provided them to American newspapers.”
Despite the judiciary's silence on this case, the Revolutionary Guard-affiliated Tasnim News Agency on Monday, February 2, described the arrested journalists' accusations as "collaboration with hostile Western governments."
Media outlets affiliated with security forces, such as Fars, had previously claimed that the journalists were “arrested from elements related to the enemy’s infiltration project in the country who were active in the press.” Ali Shirazi, the representative of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, in the IRGC’s Quds Force, said on February 12: “Soon, the national media will broadcast a film of the confessions of those arrested in the infiltration plan, and the Iranian nation will see behind the scenes of the infiltration.”
