Reporters Without Borders supports fleeing Iranian journalists

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Reza Valizadeh, 35, had to flee Iran in a hurry to avoid being tortured in Evin prison or, worse still, ending up dead. With just the clothes on his back, he left his family and friends the day the police came looking for him. Reza’s problem was that he was a journalist, and a good one. Officially, he was a presenter on national television’s fourth channel. But he clandestinely kept two blogs as well. He posted a blog entry about President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s acquisition of pedigree German shepherds worth several tens of thousands of euros, a luxury that does not sit well with the image of modesty that Ahmadinejad tries to project. He also dared to report on the activities of the Crime Verification Committee, which was created by opposition parties to investigate crimes involving members of the regime’s security forces, police and militias. The committee probed a bit too thoroughly into sensitive cases. It was dissolved, its members were arrested and the reprisals spread as far as the associated network of journalists. A team of police officers came knocking on his door last September. Reza did not think twice. He headed straight for Turkey and a UN refugee agency camp. But he was too close to the Iranian border there, still within the reach of the Revolutionary Guards. His request for a French visa was supported by Reporters Without Borders, which paid for his accommodation for the first six weeks after his arrival in France in January. Since then, he has found a place to stay through friends and is continuing to make a living from his activities as an online journalist. To assist reporters in exile In November 2009, Reporters Without Borders began a major assistance programme for Iranian journalists and netizens who have fled their country since President Ahmadinejad’s disputed reelection and the ensuing unprecedented crackdown on the press. Reporters Without Borders has supported more than 30 visa applications and granted 55 requests for financial assistance. RSf defended the case of more than 80 journalists in exile. With the support of then European Commission Vice-President Jacques Barrot, Reporters Without Borders launched a campaign in 2009 to get various European governments to issue humanitarian visas to journalists seeking refuge. So far, only France has agreed to take Iranian journalists and human rights activists under emergency procedures. The report we are now releasing details the activities that Reporters Without Borders has undertaken for Iranian journalists since November 2009.