(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed concern about the arrest of Mostafa Darban, the Iranian news agency IRNA’s Baghdad bureau chief, and three of his journalists by Iraqi police on 9 August 2004. All four are being held at the Interior Ministry. “We deplore these arrests and are especially concerned because the police have not given […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed concern about the arrest of Mostafa Darban, the Iranian news agency IRNA’s Baghdad bureau chief, and three of his journalists by Iraqi police on 9 August 2004. All four are being held at the Interior Ministry.
“We deplore these arrests and are especially concerned because the police have not given any explanation and remain vague about the four journalists’ situation,” RSF said. “We ask Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib to explain why they are being detained and we call for their immediate release.”
Darban and agency staffers Mohammad Khafaji, Mohsen Madani and Abu Ali were picked up by uniformed police at IRNA’s office in Baghdad and their equipment was confiscated. The news agency’s head office in Tehran had first feared they might have been kidnapped.
Other Iranian journalists have previously been arrested in Iraq. On 1 July 2003, two journalists from the state-owned television station IRIB, Said Aboutaleb and Soheil Karimi, were arrested by American troops and held for four months for allegedly “undermining the security” of Iraq (see IFEX alerts of 6 August and 30 July 2003). United States officials did not inform the Iranian consul in Baghdad of the arrests until two weeks later.
