(RSF/IFEX) – Twenty journalists are currently in jail in Iran. RSF is deeply concerned by the fact that several of them have been psychologically pressured to obtain confessions. RSF asks the head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi, to order the release of these journalists, who merely exercised their right to freely inform. RSF is also […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Twenty journalists are currently in jail in Iran. RSF is deeply concerned by the fact that several of them have been psychologically pressured to obtain confessions. RSF asks the head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi, to order the release of these journalists, who merely exercised their right to freely inform. RSF is also concerned about the pressure brought to bear on the prisoners’ families. RSF considers Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to be one of the world’s thirty worst enemies of press freedom. Iran is the largest prison for press representatives in the world.
Despite the release of several journalists in recent months, including the release of Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, from “Neshat”, on 12 September 2001, many journalists remain behind bars in very harsh conditions. According to Martazi Langrodi and member of parliament Ali Ansary Rad, who have visited prisoners, some of them, including Reza Alijani, Hoda Saber, Taghi Rahmani and Ezatollah Sahabi, were psychologically pressured to obtain confessions.
According to information obtained by RSF, some are incarcerated in individual cells, with white walls and very harsh light. Prevented from sleeping, the prisoners often end up confessing “crimes” they never committed. State television then broadcasts the forced confessions.
Moreover, families of some journalists are regularly submitted to pressure from the Iranian authorities, which sometimes go as far as arrests. This is the case of Narghues Mohammadi, Rahmani’s wife. Rahmani is a journalist with “Omid-é-Zangan” who is in jail since 11 March. Also a journalist, she was arrested on 28 August after her appearance before the Tehran Revolutionary Court as a “witness”. Released on 2 September, she was accused of giving interviews to foreign radio stations. Saber’s (“Iran-é-Farda”) sister was taken into custody for several days in July, for “refusing to cooperate” with the courts.
Most journalists are detained in Evine prison and Prison No. 59, in Tehran. Only five journalists have been sentenced. Others are awaiting trials or verdicts. The journalists’ sentences vary from three to eight years’ imprisonment.
