Two Iranian journalists arrested, beaten, now reportedly in a coma
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is extremely concerned about the fate of two journalists
who were arrested during violent clashes between police and members of a Sufi religious
order called the Gonabadi Dervishes. The journalists were beaten and, according to some
sources, are now in a coma.
At least seven people, including three police officers, were killed, around 100 people were injured and more than 300 arrests were made during the three days of clashes, from 19 to 21 February, in the north Tehran district of Pasdaran.
Those arrested included Reza Entesari and Kasra Nouri, two reporters for the Sufi news website Majzooban Nor, and several other Majzooban Nor employees including Faezeh Abdipour. The only independent source of information about the the Gonabadi Dervishes, Majzooban Nor has been posting reports and video footage of the violence by police and plainclothes militiamen.
Witnesses say the two journalists were badly beaten and arrested on the night of 19 February. The authorities have not as yet issued any statement about their arrest and have yet to tell the families where they are being held or what their present condition is.
According to several detainees who were freed in the past 48 hours, the journalists were taken to Imam Sajad police hospital in Tehran shortly after their arrest because their physical condition was worsening. Some of the sources said they are now in coma.
Entesari and Nouri have already been arrested and jailed several times in the past, while the Gonabadi Dervishes have been persecuted by the regime’s fundamentalists for the past Decade.
One of world’s most authoritarian regimes, Iran is ranked 165th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2017 World Press Freedom Index.
