(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed outrage over the latest escalation in a crackdown against news websites following the arrest of three journalists on 7 and 8 August 2004. Babak Ghafori Azar, Shahram Rafihzadeh and Hanif Mazroi are the latest victims in a wave of arrests and closures launched by Iranian judicial authorities against news sites […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed outrage over the latest escalation in a crackdown against news websites following the arrest of three journalists on 7 and 8 August 2004. Babak Ghafori Azar, Shahram Rafihzadeh and Hanif Mazroi are the latest victims in a wave of arrests and closures launched by Iranian judicial authorities against news sites with reformist leanings.
“Reporters Without Borders is outraged at this latest escalation in the government’s attempts to suppress the right to inform the public via the Internet in Iran. After closing or blocking several sites and arresting several of their staff members, the Tehran authorities are now summoning, arresting and threatening journalists suspected of having links to these sites. We call on the Iranian authorities to immediately release the three journalists arrested this week and end their crackdown on Internet news sites,” said the organisation.
On 7 August, security forces arrested Azar, of the financial daily “Hayat-e now”, at his home after searching the premises.
Rafihzadeh, head of the cultural section of the newspaper “Etemad”, was summoned by the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office last week but did not respond to the summons. He was arrested on 7 August at the newspaper’s offices, apparently by the morality squad, a Tehran police department believed to be close to the intelligence services.
Mazroi, a former journalist with several reformist publications, was arrested on 8 August after responding to a summons from the Ninth Chamber of the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office.
The three journalists appear to have been detained in connection with the 21 August blocking of the news website Rouydad (http://www.rouydad.info), by order of the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office.
In addition, between six and eight people working for Internet service providers, who were summoned and subsequently arrested by the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office some two weeks ago, have been released. All of the employees spoke of harassment and threats and said they had been warned not to communicate with anyone about their arrests if they wanted to be released.
