Concern about fate of abducted journalist

Reporters Without Borders called on the Iranian authorities today to provide information about the fate of journalist Peyman Pakmehr, who was attacked and abducted in the northern town of Kaliber at around midnight on 2 July, just two hours after he gave an interview to Radio FARDA (Radio Free Europe). ] Witnesses told Reporters Without Borders they saw four armed men in civilian dress beat the journalist outside the Babak Hotel in an attempt to force him into a car. After he lost consciousness, he was taken away in an ambulance, the sources said. His family has been looking for him for the past 48 hours without success. Reporters Without Borders is all the more concerned as this kidnapping followed the arrests of other journalists in similar circumstances. Ensafali Hedayat of the (closed) daily Salam was arrested on 16 June in the same region, and many students have been detained since the start of June. Aged 30 and married, Pakmehr used to work for two newspapers that have been closed by the government, the daily Nasim Sabah and the weekly Ahrar Tabriz. The interview he gave two hours before his abduction was about a demonstration by several hundred thousand people at Babam fortress near Kaliber. The demonstration was not banned, but it was closely monitored by the authorities. A total of 17 journalists are currently detained in Iran, which makes it the biggest prison for journalists in the Middle East.