Iranian-Canadian journalist’s supposed “confession” suggests serious human rights abuses

Iranian news agency Fars reported yesterday that Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari had admitted that his coverage of the Iranian election was biased in favour of Mir Hossein Mousavi. It also claimed that Bahari had said that he was part of “capitalist machinery” aimed at “throwing the legitimacy of the election in doubt”. Maziar Bahari has been detained since 21 June.

It will be extremely distressing for Maziar Bahari’s friends, colleagues, family and fellow journalists to see the Iranian government using him for their propaganda. He is a journalist and writer who has always been renowned for his independence of thought and professionalism. The Iranian government is abusing Maziar Bahari’s human rights by detaining him, and exploiting his detention for their own political purposes.

Index on Censorship repeats its call to the Iranian government to release Maziar Bahari — along with the journalists who have been held since the elections.