23 months jail and a 5 years ban for pro-reform journalist

Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières - RSF) protested today against the sentencing of pro-reform journalist Ahmad Zeid-Abadi (see photo) to 23 months in prison and a five-years ban on "all public and social activity, including journalism" and called on the head of the Iranian legal system, Ayatollah Shahrudi, to cancel the "very harsh" punishment. "The conservatives who control the judiciary are taking advantage of the UN Human Rights Commission's recent failure to condemn Iran to resume their attacks on journalists and the media," said RSF secretary-general Robert Ménard.  Despite the release of eight journalists since the beginning of this year, 12 are still imprisoned in Iran. At least five more are free on bail waiting for the result of their trials. RSF learns that Zeid-Abadi, who works for the pro-reform daily newspaper Hamchari and the monthly Iran-e-Farda, was sentenced on 17 April by the president of the Teheran court, Judge Said Mortazavi, for "propaganda against the Islamic regime and its institutions." The court said he had taken "provocative positions that threatened national security." In recent articles, he has defended Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and condemned suicide bombings, a line which differs from the Iranian government's position. He plans to appeal against the sentence. Zeid-Abadi was arrested at his home on 7 August 2000 by a dozen plainclothes officials because of what they said was his refusal to appear before a court. He was freed on heavy bail on 8 March 2001. Said Afsar, a journalist with the government daily Iran, went on trial before the Teheran court on 28 April for "insulting Islam" in three articles he had written about the religion. During the trial, he said that as a Muslim, he would never insult Islam. The verdict will be announced later.