Iranian Journalist Wins Press Freedom Award

The Paris-based media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders has awarded its 2010 Press Freedom Prize to two “symbols of courage,” jailed Iranian journalist Abdolreza Tajik and the Somali radio station Radio Shabelle.

“This year we are honoring a courageous journalist, Abdolreza Tajik, and a beleaguered radio station, Radio Shabelle,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Jean-François Julliard said. “These laureates work into two countries, Iran and Somalia, where reporting the news is a constant battle.”

The awards were presented at a ceremony in Paris on Thursday night. The prize recipients are chosen by an international jury of journalists and human rights activists based on significant contributions made to the defense and promotion of press freedom around the globe. Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi accepted Tajik’s prize on his behalf.

“I regret that Abdolreza is not here to receive this award in person. His only crime has been to write, to write the truth. For doing that, he is being held in solitary confinement in Evin prison, without his lawyer being able to see him or have access to his case file,” Ebadi said after accepting the prize.

Abdolreza Tajik has written for a number of newspapers including Fath, Bonyan, Bahar, Hambastegi and Shargh.

Iran Cracking Down on Journalists “Remorselessly” - RWB

Reporters Without Border (RWB), the international NGO that advocates freedom of press, today warned that Iran is cracking down on journalists “remorselessly.” In the past two weeks alone, a journalist was arrested for the second time in a year and two women journalists whose journalist husbands are already in jail received jail sentences.

In its annual press freedom report released on 22 October, RWB had ranked Iran 175^th out of 178 countries. Some of the journalists arrested recently:

• Mohammad Reza Moghisseh, editor of Bist Saleha. He was arrested on 22 October for the second time in a year. In October 2009, he was arrested and spent 150 days in solitary confinement in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.
• Jila Bani Yaghoob, a blogger and reporter, was sentenced to one year in prison on 22 October by Tehran revolutionary court and banned from journalism for 30 years. Her husband, Bahman Ahmadi Amoee, in detention since June 2009, has been given a five-year jail sentence. Amoee’s blog, We are Journalists, won “Best of the Blogs” prize given by Deutsche Welle last April.
• Mahssa Amrabadi, another women journalist, was sentenced to a year in prison by Tehran revolutionary court on 14 October. Her husband, Masoud Bastani, has been in prison since July 2009. He was arrested and tried along many other journalists in the Stalinist-style mass trials of August 2009.

For viewing today’s RWB report, visit here.

Baghi’s Condition Alarming

Reporters Without Borders today issued an alarm on the health of Emadoldin Baghi, the Iranian journalist and human rights activist. Baghi suffered double heart attacks at Evin prison on 26 December and was transferred to the emergency room at Qamar Bani Hachem hospital. He was returned to the prison yesterday.

“The conditions in which Baghi is being held are unacceptable,” said Reporters Without Borders. “He has been in solitary confinement ever since he was first taken to Evin, as if imprisonment was not already enough punishment. As his state of health has worsened steadily during the past two months, it is inconceivable that he should be expected to convalesce in prison.”

Saleh Nikbakht, Baghi’s lawyer, said the deterioration in Baghi's health was mainly due to the appalling conditions in the prison and to the harassment to which he has been subjected during interrogation sessions. “Emadoldin Baghi will not survive another heart attack,” he said.

Ghorbanpour Freed on Bail

Farshad Ghorbanpour, a journalist working for Roozonline and other reformist publications, was freed today after posting a bail. Ghorbanpour was arrested on 31 July and was transferred to the notorious Section 209 at Evin prison. He was one of the eleven journalists and cyber-dissidents being held at Evin.

Ghorbanpour had been arrested for "spreading lies against the system" and "giving news to websites outside the country." Reporters Without Borders has been actively seeking the release of Ghorbanpour and other detained journalists. (Please see the 2 August entry in this blog: “Iranian Journalists Under assault.”)

Iranian Journalists Under Assault

The government arrested another journalist on Tuesday, Farshad Ghorbanpour. He was transferred to the notorious Security Section 209 at Evin prison. Reporters Without Borders reports the number of journalist and cyber-dissidents currently detained in Iran has risen to 11. Ghorbanpour worked for several publications including Roozonline.

Also on Tuesday, Emadoldin Baghi was sentenced to three years in prison. Baghi, 45, was released from prison in February 2004 after serving a three-year sentence. On leaving the prison, Mr. Baghi set up an organization to defend the rights of prisoners of conscious. He was banned from leaving the country and has been summoned for questioning by the ministry of intelligence on numerous occasions. He is now sentenced to another three years in prison.

Reporters Without Borders reports that Baghi’s wife and his daughter were also given three-year suspended prison sentences and five years of probation for taking part in a series of human rights workshops in Dubai in 2004. The charges were meeting and colluding with the aim of disrupting national security.

Along with Ghorbanpour, the government also arrested Masoud Bastani who was later released after questioning. Bastani was sentenced to six months in prison in 2003, 70 lashes and a five-year ban as a journalist. He was again imprisoned in 2005 after reporting on a demonstration for the release of Akbar Ganji.

Reporters Without Borders reports that another Roozonline journalist, Soheil Asefi, has also received a summons to appear before a court after prosecutor’s agents searched him home, taking personal documents and the hard disk of his computer.

On the same day, the government confirmed that two Kurdish journalists, Adnan Hassanpour and Abdolvahed “Hiva” Botimar, had been sentenced to death. A revolutionary court in Marivan, Kurdistan had charged them as “mahareb,” or enemies of God.

Reporters Without Borders is circulating a petition for the release of the two journalists sentenced to death.