(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called for an end to closed-door trials of journalists and demanded the release of journalists who have been unfairly imprisoned. On 15 October 2003, Iranian judiciary spokesperson Golamhossein Elham confirmed that three journalists who were arrested on 14 June – Taghi Rahmani of “Omid-é-Zangan” weekly, Reza Alijani of “Iran-é-Farda” monthly and […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called for an end to closed-door trials of journalists and demanded the release of journalists who have been unfairly imprisoned.
On 15 October 2003, Iranian judiciary spokesperson Golamhossein Elham confirmed that three journalists who were arrested on 14 June – Taghi Rahmani of “Omid-é-Zangan” weekly, Reza Alijani of “Iran-é-Farda” monthly and Hoda Saber of “Iran-é-Farda” – were “serving prison terms.”
The spokesperson gave no reasons for the journalists’ imprisonment nor did he indicate the date or location of their trials. Apart from the news that the journalists had reportedly started a hunger strike and were still being held in solitary confinement, their lawyers and families have had no news of them for 40 days.
“It is unacceptable that the Iranian courts almost always hold trials behind closed doors. Journalists are arrested and then disappear into Iranian jails without anybody knowing if trials have been held, when or where, and most importantly why,” protested RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard.
“Neither the families nor the lawyers are allowed to visit those in detention. The only thing that it is possible to verify is that they are being held in solitary confinement. It is high time that Iran respected the most basic rules of law. The only recourse open to the families of journalists to protest the violation of their human rights is to hold sit-ins or hunger strikes,” Ménard added.
The lawyer for the three journalists, an individual named Soltani, has still not been able to meet with his clients. He expressed particular concern over the fact that their trial was held in camera, which he said “constitutes a serious violation of national and international law.”
The three journalists’ families have joined the family of journalist Abbas Abdi in a sit-in that began on 13 October in front of the United Nations’ office in Tehran. Abdi was arrested on 4 November 2002.
The judiciary spokesperson’s statement comes at a time when Iranian civil society is increasingly rallying to condemn attacks on press freedom and the arbitrary jailing of journalists. More than 100 lawyers, students and reformist activists went on hunger strike on 20 October in Tehran and major provincial cities. Even Mohsen Kadivar, a member of the clerical reformist movement, said on this occasion, “The regime’s hardliners have turned Iran into the Middle East’s biggest prison for journalists and political activists.”
RSF has also condemned the closure of the weekly newspaper “Avay-e kordestan” (“Song of Kurdistan”). The paper was banned by the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court (Kordestan province). This is the first time a Kurdish-language newspaper has been banned in Iran. The judiciary has given no explanation for the ban.
