Another reformist journalist arrested

Reporters Without Borders today called for the immediate release of Rozbeh Mir Ebrahimi, a former political editor of the reformist daily Etemad, condemning his arrest without a warrant at his Tehran home on 27 September as a violation of Iranian and international law. The organisation also condemned the summons issued to two other journalists to appear before judicial officials on 25 September, saying they were designed to intimidate not only them but the entire reformist press. Ebrahimi was arrested by " individuals who said they were police" but had no arrest warrant, his wife, Sulmaz Sharifi, told the student news agency Isna. "They searched our home and asked my husband about his activities on various Internet sites. They said he would be released quickly but they did not explain the reasons for his arrest and, until now, I've not been able to speak to him." Ebrahimi also used to work for other reformist newspapers that have been closed down, including the daily Jomhouriyat, which the judicial authorities banned on 18 July. At least three journalists working for websites have been arrested in recent weeks. One, Babak Ghafori Azar, was freed on 21 September but two others, Hanif Mazroi and Shahram Rafihzadeh, are still in prison, apparently in connection with the blocking of the Rouydad website (www.rouydad.info) since 21 August on the orders of the Tehran state prosecutor's office. Rafihzadeh was also the editor of the culture section of Etemad, which means "Trust" in Farsi. The Iranian authorities reinforced the ban on several pro-reformist websites at the start of August and, for several months, they have been forcing Internet service providers to install filters to block access to porn sites and some political sites. Meanwhile, the families of three journalists imprisoned since June 2003 - Taghi Rahmani of the weekly Omid-e-Zangan, Hoda Saber of the monthly Iran-e-Farda and Reza Alijani, the editor of Iran-e-Farda and winner of the 2001 Reporters Without Borders-Fondation de France award - have written an open letter protesting about their prison conditions. "We have had no news of them for three weeks," they said in the letter. "We are very worried. We don't think it is normal that after 380 days in detention, 135 of them in solitary confinement, these three illegally-held journalists should be put in solitary confinement again." The lawyer acting for the journalists, Mohammad Sharif, said he was only recently able to see them for the first time after they had been held for more than a year. The two journalists summoned for questioning on 25 September were Kivan Samimi Behbani, the editor of the independent monthly Nameh ("The Letter" in Farsi), and Lotfolah Meysami, the editor of the monthly Chashm Andaz ("Panorama" in Farsi). Behbani, who got his summons from the 6th division of the Tehran court, was questioned about an article that is the subject of a complaint filed with the prosecutor's office. Nameh has been the subject of several warnings from the ministry of Islamic guidance since the start of the year and everything suggests that the judiciary is about to close it down. Meysami was summoned by the 6th division of the Tehran court in connection with a judicial investigation against his newspaper. It is the second investigation to have been initiated by the court against Chashm Andaz.