Iran

Iranian authorities have criticised international media reports and taken steps to control the flow of information from independent news sources as anti-government protests raged in the country for the third day on Monday. Opposition candidates Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi have appealed to their supporters not to accept the “rigged results.” The British Broadcasting Co said that electronic...

There is a stark lack of balanced and independent electoral coverage in the Iranian media. And, 15 journalists have been threatened or summoned for questioning in the cities of Machhad, Ahvaz, Sanandaj, Khoram Abad, Khohdasht and Tabriz since the campaign for the June presidential 12 election began on May 21. They have been targetted for criticising President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is running

Pro-reform Iranian daily Yas-e-no was closed down on May 16, immediately after it brought out its first issue in five years, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The mouthpiece of the Participation Front, the main opposition party, it was closed on the orders of the Commission for Press Authorisation and Surveillance (an offshoot of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance...

Freelance journalist Roxana Saberi has been released from prison in Iran. Saberi, who was initially sentenced to an eight-year prison term for espionage on April 18, was released from Tehran's Evin Prison Monday after an appeals court reduced her punishment to a two-year suspended sentence. Although exact details about the charges against Saberi remain unknown, BBC reported that the initial charge...

Iranian-American freelance journalist Roxana Saberi, who was sentenced to eight years in prison by an Iranian Revolutionary Court on charges of spying for the United States, remains on a hunger strike that she started a week ago, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Her father, Reza Saberi, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) after visiting her in Tehran's Evin Prison on her 32...

In response to a letter sent on Sunday by Iran's president urging the public prosecutor to ensure justice for Iranian-American ‎journalist Roxana Saberi, the Committee to Protect Journalists on Monday called for Saberi to be released on bail pending her appeal. An Iranian Revolutionary Court found Saberi guilty of espionage and sentenced her to eight years in prison on Saturday in a closed, one...

An Iranian court convicted journalist Roxana Saberi of espionage and sentenced her to eight years in prison Saturday following a closed, one-day trial earlier in the week. Her lawyer said he will appeal. "Roxana Saberi's trial lacked transparency and we are concerned that she may not have been treated fairly," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa programme coordinator. "We...

Iranian-American freelancer, Roxana Saberi, who has been charged with espionage after being arrested in late January, appeared in court for the first time on Monday. Iranian judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi told a news conference in Tehran Tuesday that Saberi appeared before a Revolutionary Court for a closed, one-day trial, during which she presented a defence, Reuters and the Associated...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned the conditions in which journalists and cyber-dissidents are being held in Iran and the arbitrary nature of their detention, and has called for their release. The organisation issued its appeal after the US-based parents of a detained American-Iranian journalist were able to visit her in Tehran's Evin prison on April 6, 2009. "It is very good news that...

Detained Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi has been with espionage by the Iranian government. Hassan Haddad, deputy public prosecutor, told the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) that Saberi "without press credentials and under the name of being a reporter, was carrying out espionage activities." In its report, published Wednesday, ISNA quoted the prosecutor as saying that "she has been...