(WiPC/IFEX) – International PEN’s Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) is deeply concerned about the arrest of woman journalist and writer Elham Afroutan, who is among seven journalists from the provincial weekly newspaper “Tammadon-e Hormozgan” (“Hormozgan’s Civilisation”) detained since 29 January 2006 following the publication of a satirical article. The journalists are believed to be held […]
(WiPC/IFEX) – International PEN’s Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) is deeply concerned about the arrest of woman journalist and writer Elham Afroutan, who is among seven journalists from the provincial weekly newspaper “Tammadon-e Hormozgan” (“Hormozgan’s Civilisation”) detained since 29 January 2006 following the publication of a satirical article. The journalists are believed to be held incommunicado and without charge, and to be at risk of torture and ill-treatment.
According to WiPC’s information, Afroutan and her six colleagues were arrested following the publication of a satirical article entitled “Let’s Expose the AIDS Epidemic of the Regime”, which compared the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran and the advent of Ayatollah Khomeini to AIDS and gave the current physical embodiment of the disease as President Ahmadinejad. The detained journalists did not write the article, and are thought to have reproduced it in the newspaper’s health section without thorough checking because they were short of stories. Afroutan is believed to be the principal accused in the case. The article is said to have been written under an alias by somebody outside Iran, and published on the Internet.
Amnesty International gives the following background:
“The journalists were arrested in the city of Bandar Abbas, in the province of Hormozgan, where the newspaper is based, as soon as the issue appeared on the streets. Demonstrations were staged and ended with the newspaper’s offices being ransacked and torched.
“Ali Dirbaz, the editor of Tammadon-e Hormozgan and the parliamentary representative for Bandar Abbas, was questioned by the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office and then freed on bail. On 30 January the Persian-language Radio Farda, which broadcasts from outside Iran, reported him saying that he was not aware of the article being published and that the author should be executed for the article’s numerous insults against the Islamic revolution and state officials.
“The Deputy for Press Affairs of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance suspended Tammadon-e Hormozgan shortly after the arrests. The Ministry’s statement on the closure accuses the newspaper of violating Iran’s press law and refers the case to the relevant judicial bodies for prosecution.
“Elham Afroutan and those detained with her are not known to have been formally charged, nor to have had access to legal representation, their families or any medical treatment.”
Afroutan, aged 20, is one of the principal members of the writers association in the city of Bandar Abbas, southern Iran.
