Mistreatment in jail in the “world’s freest country”

Reporters Without Borders warned today that the lives of several imprisoned Iranian journalists are in danger and called for a UN investigation into the country’s jails. While Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, constantly claim that Iran is the “world’s freest country”, imprisoned Iranian journalists are continuing to suffer mistreatment and even torture, the worldwide press freedom organisation said. One of Iran’s most celebrated journalists Ahmad Zeydabadi, is under continued pressure to make a confession, while Bahaman Ahamadi Amoee remains in jail because his file has supposedly been “lost”. Said Matinpour who has respiratory problems is getting no medical attention. “Journalists held in prison in Iran are deprived of their most basic rights and have no protection at all. Their lawyers and families are threatened. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad must account for the situation inside Iranian prisons since 12 June 2009, particularly in view of reports from journalists who have been subjected to torture and mistreatment”, the worldwide press freedom organisation said. “The UN must at all costs send an investigation team to visit the prisons, particularly Evin. The lives of several journalists are in danger”. Ahmad Zeydabadi who was arrested on 14 June, has spent 35 days “in a cell that is like a tomb”. His family has said that the journalist is being kept under pressure to publicly apologise and to ask for a pardon from the Supreme Leader. The journalist sent an open letter to Khamenei in 2007 in which he asked, “Why are we not allowed to criticise the action of the Supreme Leader?” His wife, Mahdieh Mohammadi, has said that on her last visit, he had told her he was still in solitary confinement and that his interrogators had beaten him to get him to write a letter of apology to the Ayatollah Khamenei. “They had even told him that they had been given permission to do what they liked with him”, his distressed wife said. Said Matinpour, a journalist on the Azeri-language weekly Yarpagh, has respiratory problems as a result of a lung infection. His wife, who had a call from her husband on 20 September, said “he was coughing so much he was unable to speak”. The authorities rejected an appeal from his lawyer for him to be allowed medical attention. Matinpour was arrested on 11 July after being summoned to the 15th chamber of the Tehran Revolutionary Court. A month earlier he was sentenced to eight years in prison for “having dealings with foreigners” and for “publicity against the regime”. He has multiple heath problems following a previous stay in prison from May 2007 to February 2008. Bahaman Ahamadi Amoee is still being held in solitary confinement in section 209 of Evin prison, his lawyer, Fraideh Ghirat said. He is still being put under pressure despite a bail application made since his arrest. “My client’s file has been lost, which is a worrying sign”, he said. “I have never seen such a thing before in my career. Interrogation can continue if a file is substantial or is incomplete. But while they told me that the interrogation of my client had been completed, it appears that there was no longer a file”. Ahamadi Amoee, a contributor to several pro-reformist publications, was arrested at his home on 20 June, along with his wife, Jila Baniyaghoob. She was released on 19 August, after paying bail of 100 million tomans (90,000 euros). Shiva Nazar Ahari, a blogger on Azadizan, a women’s liberation website http://azadiezan.blogspot.com/, was released yesterday after three months in custody, after posting bail of 200 million tomans (180,000 euros). She is still awaiting trial.