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 initially arraested in May 2007 and released on bail after nine months. The journalist worked for Yar Pag and Mouj Bidari newspapers in Azaerbaijan province, western Iran, in additing to writing his own blog, according to local news reports.
"We condemn the harsh sentence given to Saeed Matin-Pour on vague accusations and call on the court of appeal to overturn it," said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Programme Coordinator Mohamed Abdel Dayem. "We call on the Iranian authorities to halt their campaign against journalists and free those who remain behind bars."
Thirty-one journalists have been imprisoned since Iran held its June 12 presidential elections. Six other journalists were in detention prior to the disputed elections. Of the journalists currently behind bars, 16 work primarily for print publications, four for online publications, two for television stations, eight are primarily bloggers, and an additional seven are freelancers or with unknown affiliations.
Among those detained is a freelance photographer for Getty Images, Majid Saeedi. "We at Getty Images are working toward his safe and quick release," said the photo agency's co-founder and CEO, Jonathan Klein, in a statement.
Since President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad won a disputed election, authorities have arrested thousands of protesters and dozens of journalists. Most of the detained journalists work for the local media, although one of them, Maziar Bahari, is a reporter Newsweek, according to CPJ research.
