Iran

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called for the definitive release of journalist and human rights activist Emadoldin Baghi who suffered a heart attack in his cell at Tehran’s Evin prison, after being returned there on April 15 following a temporary release for health reasons. “We urge the Iranian authorities to act now to avoid putting the journalist’s life at risk,” Paris-based RSF said. “He...

An award-winning Iranian journalist was due to return to prison on Tuesday after being allowed three months' leave because of illness, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported quoting his lawyer. The return to jail of Emadeddin Baghi, who heads a prisoners' rights group and has openly campaigned against the death penalty in Iran, came just a week after he was awarded a major journalism prize in...

Iran has closed down nine film and lifestyle magazines for publishing pictures and stories about the life of "corrupt" foreign film stars and promoting "superstitions." The Press Supervisory Board, a body controlled by hardliners, also sent warning notes to 13 other publications and magazines on "observing the provisions of the press law," the Culture Ministry said on its website, acording to an...

The editor of a women’s rights magazine in Afghanistan was arrested in Iran on March 4 and continues to be held without charge. The Afghan Independent Journalists’ Association (AIJA) has reported that Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, editor of the monthly Haqoq-e-Zan (Women’s Rights) magazine, was reportedly detained by Iranian officials in Qumm, near the Iranian capital Tehran. Documents, phones and a computer...

The last fortnight has been a mix of good and bad news for journalists in Iran. Maybe, more of the latter. Abolfazl Abedini Nasr of the weekly Bahar Khozestan was released on February 18, followed by that of Said Matinpour, a contributor to the weekly Yarpagh, eight days later. That's where the good streak ended. Prison sentences were passed two days ago on journalists Bahaman Ahamadi Amoee and...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today condemned the recent closure of Zanan, Iran’s leading women and pro-reform magazine, after authorities said it provided a “dark picture” of the Islamic Republic of Iran. “The Iranian regime must end its censorship of the media and intimidation of journalists and activists fighting for decent rights for women in the country,” says Aidan White...

An Iranian journalist has been arrested after he presented himself to a Tehran court in response to a summons. Neither Soheil Assefi's family nor his lawyers know where he is being held or with what he is charged. Officials from the prosecutor's office searched his home on July 31, taking personal documents and his computer's hard disk. Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called for the release of...

Iran has closed down prominent pro-reform daily Shargh (East) three months after it was allowed to resume publicaiton following a ban, its director said on Monday. Shargh is the second publication critical of the government to be shut down since July. The closure of Shargh coincides with what rights groups and diplomats say is a broad crackdown on dissenting voices in the Islamic state, which is...

Reporters Without Borders called today for the release of Farshad Gorbanpour, who was arrested yesterday along with fellow journalist Masoud Bastani on the orders of Tehran prosecutor Said Mortazavi. Bastani was freed after several hours but Gorbanpour was transferred to Evin prison. This brings the number of journalists and cyber-dissidents detained in Iran to 11. Also yesterday, a Tehran...

Authorities in Iran's northwestern Kurdistan Province have condemned two ethnic Kurdish journalists to death for acting against the country's national security, according to delayed reports. Journalists Adnan Hassanpour and Abdolvahed “Hiva” Botimar were sentenced to death by a revolutionary tribunal in Marivan, in Iran’s Kurdish northwestern region, on July 16. Hassanpour worked for the magazine...