Four journalists facing national security charge are freed on bail

Four Azeri minority journalists who were arrested on 10 September while meeting at a political activist's home in Tehran were released on 8 November after paying bail of 50 million toumen (45,000 euros) but they are still charged with “conspiracy” and “offence against national security.” They are Alireza Sarafi, editor of Dilmaj (a monthly closed on 23 September 2007), Said Mohamadi, editor of the literary magazine Yashagh, and reporters Hassain Rashedi and Akabar Azad, who write for the magazine Varlighe and the weekly Yarpagh. They spent nearly two months in solitary confinement in section 209 of Tehran's Evin prison where, according to their relatives, they were interrogated very harshly by intelligence officers trying to get them to confess to activities that would support the charges. “This confirms that journalists are subjected to appalling conditions in Evin prison,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Solitary confinement and heavy-handed interrogation, often while blindfolded, are part of the arsenal used by the intelligence ministry, which is in charge of section 209, to intimidate detainees and make them confess to things they did not do.” Five journalists are currently detained in Iran, which was ranked 166th out of 173 countries in the world press freedom index released by Reporters Without Borders last month. ---------------------------------------------------------- 24.09.2008 More and more minority journalists being jailed Reporters Without Borders is worried about a rise in tension between the Iranian authorities and journalists who belong to Iran's Azeri community. Four Azeri journalists have been held without charge for more than 10 days, possibly in Tehran's Evin prison, while an Azeri journalist and blogger was sentenced to six months in prison on 20 September for her online articles. “These Azeris join the list of ethnic minority journalists held in Iran's prisons for criticising social inequality and demanding equal treatment within Iranian society,” Reporters Without Borders said. “It is disturbing that 11 of the 12 journalists currently detained in Iran are from the Kurdish, Azeri or Arab minorities. The Iranian authorities must put a stop to this all-out repression, which is holding back the development of community media.” An investigating judge decided on 17 September to keep four Azeri journalists - Alireza Sarafi, Said Mohamadi, Hassain Rashedi and Akabar Azad - in detention without giving their families any explanation and without letting them see a lawyer. They were arrested on 10 September while meeting at a political activist's home in Tehran. Sarafi is the editor of Dilmaj (a monthly that has been closed since 23 September 2007). Mohamadi is the editor of the literary magazine Yashagh. Rashedi and Azad write for the magazine Varlighe and the weekly Yarpagh. The day after the judge's decision to keep them in custody, intelligence agents search the homes of Sarafi and Rashedi, taking work files, CD-ROMs and the hard drives of their computers. The four men may now be in Evin prison's section 209, which is under the intelligence ministry's control. Shahnaz Gholami, the editor of the weblog Azar Zan, was sentenced to six months in prison by a revolutionary court in the northwestern city of Tabriz on 20 September for “publicity against the Islamic Republic.” She remains free pending the outcome of an appeal being prepared by her lawyer, Mohamad Ali Dadkhah. A member of the Women Journalists Association (ARZ), Gholami is well known for her involvement in the struggle for women's rights, She was jailed for three weeks in August 2007 for criticising the way the police cracked down on demonstrators in various towns in the Iranian provinces of East and West Azerbaijan. She was also detained for five years in the 1980s because of her political activities.