Iran

The father of imprisoned journalist Roxana Saberi says he and his wife are making plans to go to Iran to see her in a couple of days. "I'm hoping if she sees us, it will lift her spirits," Reza Saberi said told the Associated Press on Wednesday. The AP report said: [ Link] The Iranian government has said Roxana Saberi was imprisoned for doing reporting work in the country after her press...

Freelance US journalist Roxana Saberi is being held at Tehran's Evin prison, where political prisoners are routinely detained, according to international news reports. Saberi is an American citizen as well as an Iranian national. Detained in late January, Saberi has not had access to an attorney, and has been incommunicado for over a month. Reuters quoted Alireza Jamshidi as saying that Saberi is...

The Iranian ministry of culture and Islamic guidance Wednesday suspended Hemat, a weekly that supports allies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The ministry said a spoof movie poster on the front page of the latest issue, on February 1, had insulted senior government officials, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. “There would be something comic about this suspension if it did not...

Stephan Hachemi has brought up a civil lawsuit against the Iranian government before the Quebec high court claiming damages for the arrest, detention, torture and death of his mother, Zahra Kazemi, a photographer with dual Iranian and Canadian citizenship, in Tehran in 2003. A preliminary three-day hearing was due to begin in Montreal on February 3, but it has been postponed to May, Reporters sans...

A wave of censorship has hit many Iranian and foreign Farsi-language websites since January 24. Most of the sites contain articles critical of the government and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose term expires on June 12. International news media websites have also been blocked since January 26, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. “After directly targeting human rights activists, the...

Iran's culture and Islamic orientation minister Mohammad Hossein Safar-Harandi has banned BBC’s new Farsi-language TV station from operating in the country, and also forbidden Iranian journalists to work for foreign news media, Reporters sans Frontières has reported. The decision follows the BBC World Service’s launch on January 14 of BBC Persian TV, a satellite TV station targeted at Farsi...

Iranian authorities are using security laws, press laws, and other legislation to arrest and prosecute Iranian Kurds solely for trying to exercise their right to freedom of expression and association. The use of these laws to suppress basic rights, while not new, has greatly intensified since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power in August 2005. The findings have been documented in a 42-page

The Iranian government has taken advantage of Israel’s offensive against the Gaza Strip to crack down harder on its critics, closing an opposition newspaper and dispatching its supporters to step up a campaign of intimidation against human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi. The Commission for the Authorisation and Surveillance of the Press ordered Kargozaraan’s suspension on December 31 under articles 5...

Iran has lifted a ban on a film magazine which was ordered to halt publication in March for printing "decadent and corrupt" articles on foreign film stars, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported quoting Fars news agency. Branch 27 of Tehran's public court has lifted the ban on Donya-ye Tasvir (World of the Image), Fars said. The AFP report said: [ Link] "We now hope to publish the new issue of...

Bahman Totonchi, a former contributor to weekly Karfto, has been arrested in Sanandaj, the capital of the northwestern Iranian province of Kurdistan. Another journalist was stabbed and seriously wounded in a neighbouring province after writing about gas shortages in the region, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Totonchi was arrested on November 18 at his Sanandaj home by intelligence...