Iran

The Committee to Protect Journalists has deplored the conditions in which dozens of Iranian journalists are being held and is concerned about the health of many of them, particularly that of Ahmad Zaid-Abadi. The columnist, who worked for Rooz Online, a Farsi and English-language reformist news website, was arrested in mid-June after the contested presidential election. Mahdieh Mohammadi, Zaid...

The fourth session of the mass trial of more than 100 opposition figures, including journalists, took place in Tehran today. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed dismay at procedural irregularities and the fact that the trial is only open to state-owned media. In the aftermath of the country's disputed June 12 presidential election, Iranian authorities have expelled foreign...

Iranian newspaper Itmad e Milli, which is owned by defeated presidential candidate Mahdi Karroubi, was banned from newsstands on Monday, the daily reported on its website. It was not clear how long the ban would be in place. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), government agents prevented copies of the paper from leaving the printing press apparently because of an article by...

Photojournalist Majid Saeedi has been released on bail in Iran, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Saeedi, a well-known freelance photographer who has worked for several newspapers and global photo agency Getty Images, was released on bail on Tuesday. Getty Images co-founder and CEO Jonathan Klein said that Saeedi "is set to face trial on the charges set by Iranian...

Officials shut down the office of the Association of Iranian Journalists in Tehran on Wednesday night, just after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn in for a second term, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Director Badr al-Sadat Mufidi, told the BBC Persian service that agents stormed the office with a warrant from Saeed Mortazavi, Tehran's prosecutor general. The...

Five journalists have been released in Iran, including one on Monday who had been held for a year. The other four were picked up in the crackdown following the June 12 elections, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Authorities released freelance journalist Massoud Kurdpour on Monday after he completed a one-year jail term in Mahabad Central Prison in northwestern Iran...

Two detained Iranian photographers are said to have confessed sending pictures to the "enemy" following the country's disputed June 12 presidential elections, according to the official Iranian News Agency (IRNA). IRNA Wednesday reported that photographers Majid Saeedi and Satyar Emami have confessed to having ties with a movement seeking to topple the Iranian government. IRNA's statement said that...

Eight photographers and cameramen have been arrested in a recent crackdown in Iran, according to Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). Following the expulsion of almost all foreign reporters, seven photographers have been jailed since June 12. They include Mehdi Zabouli (arrested on June 20), Tohid Bighi (July 11), Majid Saidi (July 11), Satyar Emami (July 11), Marjan Abdolahian (July 11)...

Iranian authorities have arrested six more journalists and sentenced another on Sunday to eight years in prison, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. A revolutionary court in Tehran convicted Saeed Matin-Pour‎ of having "relations with foreigners and propagating against the regime," according to local news reports, and sent him immediately to Evin Prison. Matin-Pour‎ was...

With 30 journalists currently in prison, Iran has replaced China as the world's worst jailer of journalists. Research by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) shows that 24 detained in the aftermath of the elections remain in custody, in addition to six journalists who were in detention prior to the disputed elections. In the past few days three journalists have been freed