**Updates IFEX alerts of 20 April 2000, 3 December, 29, 10 and 3 November and 8 September 1999** (WAN/IFEX) – In a 23 August 2000 letter to President , WAN and the World Editors Forum expressed grave concern that imprisoned journalist Mashallah Shamsolvaezin has been placed in solitary confinement. According to reports, Shamsolvaezin, the former […]
**Updates IFEX alerts of 20 April 2000, 3 December, 29, 10 and 3 November and 8 September 1999**
(WAN/IFEX) – In a 23 August 2000 letter to President , WAN and the World Editors Forum expressed grave concern that imprisoned journalist Mashallah Shamsolvaezin has been placed in solitary confinement.
According to reports, Shamsolvaezin, the former editor-in-chief of the now-banned reformist newspaper “Neshat” who was jailed in April for “hurting Islam”, has been held in solitary confinement since 20 August in Tehran’s Evin prison. The only reason given by authorities for this more severe punishment was that it followed a “new (legal) affair”.
On 21 August, Tehran’s press court announced that it is pursuing new cases against Shamsolvaezin, Bagher Vali-Beig and Hamid-Reza Jalaipour, who run the Jameeh-e-Ruz company which published several suspended newspapers. The judge accused the editors of receiving “financial help” from the Iran Freedom Movement, a progressive Islamic group. A judicial representative said that Jameeh-e-Ruz funds “came from counter-revolutionary groups” and that its leaders “are also accused of keeping drugs and alcoholic drinks.”
Earlier this month, Iran’s supreme court approved a six-month reduction in Shamsolveazin’s three-year jail term. Shamsolvaezin was sentenced in November 1999 to three years in prison and a US$4,000 fine for “hurting Islam”, following the publication of articles and letters questioning capital punishment.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
- expressing serious concern over the deteriorating press freedom situation in Iran
- reminding him that at least six journalists are being held in prison and more than twenty pro-reform newspapers have been closed since April
- reminding him that the imprisonment of Shamsolvaezin is a clear breach of his right to freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by numerous international agreements, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a party. Furthermore, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights considers that “detention, as punishment for the peaceful expression of an opinion, is one of the most reprehensible ways to enjoin silence and, as a consequence, a grave violation of human rights”
- calling on him to ensure that Shamsolvaezin and all journalists detained for carrying out their professional duties are immediately and unconditionally released from prison
- urging him to ensure that in future Iran fully respects its international commitments to freedom of expression
Appeals To
His Excellency Mohammed Khatami
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
C/o Embassy in France
Fax: +33 1 40 70 01 57
Please copy appeals to WAN.
