(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the recent one-year prison sentence against journalist Mohsen Sazgara as “unfair and contrary to international legal norms.” The organisation also spoke out against the arbitrary imprisonment of three journalists for the past nine months. On 8 March 2004, Sazgara learned from his lawyer that his trial on appeal had been […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the recent one-year prison sentence against journalist Mohsen Sazgara as “unfair and contrary to international legal norms.” The organisation also spoke out against the arbitrary imprisonment of three journalists for the past nine months.
On 8 March 2004, Sazgara learned from his lawyer that his trial on appeal had been heard while he was abroad seeking urgent medical attention. “Yet again, this is a completely illegal procedure,” Sazgara told RSF. “The Iranian authorities gave me permission to leave the country and waited until I was no longer in Iran to announce this so-called verdict in a trial held in the absence of both the lawyer and the person being sentenced. I intend to return to Iran as soon as possible to respond to this farce,” he added.
Sazgara was imprisoned on 15 June 2003 and released on bail of six billion rials (approx. US$710,000; 580,000 euros) on 6 October. A week before his release, he was charged with “undermining national security”, “insulting the Guide of the Islamic Revolution” and “making propaganda against the state”, and was sentenced to one year in prison. During his 110 days in jail, he twice went on hunger strike, for 56 and then 23 days, to protest against government repression.
Sazgara is one of the founders of the reformist press in Iran. He published the now-suspended dailies “Jameh”, “Neshat” and “Tous” and created the website http://www.alliran.net, which was shut down after his arrest. A courageous political analyst, he recently wrote, “The past five years have demonstrated that the country’s religious rulers are neither reformable nor effective.” He has also described the Guide of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei, as “dictatorial,” which earned him several stays in Iranian prisons.
On 14 June, on the eve of Sazgara’s arrest, three other journalists – Taghi Rahmani, of the weekly “Omid-e-Zangan”, Reza Alijani, editor-in-chief of the monthly “Iran-e-Farda” and winner of the RSF-Fondation de France 2001 press freedom award, and Hoda Saber, an “Iran-e-Farda” manager – were jailed for “holding secret meetings with students”. Held for several months in solitary confinement and deprived of visits from their lawyers and families, they passed the legal deadline for temporary detention on 6 December.
Rahmani’s wife, Narges Mohammadi, has spoken about her distress over this situation, which violates the most basic principles of law. “They are in prison illegally, without charge, without sentence and without trial,” she told RSF. “When we try to get information about their cases, we get no replies, and their lawyers do not even have access to their files,” Mohammadi explained.
RSF has also condemned the ongoing harassment of the press. The weekly “Kalam-e Moalem” was recently suspended for carrying news about a major teachers’ strike. The weekly “Vaght” was also suspended for “undermining moral standards”. “Vaght”‘s managing editor, Shahram Mohammad Nia, was given a six-month suspended sentence.
With 11 journalists currently behind bars, Iran is the Middle East’s biggest prison for journalists.
