14 Dec 2010 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
Labour activist, Reza Shahabi remains in custody despite the payment of bail USD 100,000 by his family. Shahabi, who was detained on 12 June, was due to be released on 11 October but two months on he has still not been Evin prison. In protest to his circumstances, he began a dry hunger strike on 4 December. In an interview with the International campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Shahabi’s wife, Zohreh Rezaei, has expressed grave concern for his well being.
13 Dec 2010 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
The Iranian authorities have arrested former journalist Mehran Faraji, and Reyhaneh Tabatabaei, Shargh newspaper’s political correspondent. Last week, four other workers from the reformist newspaper, Ahamd Gholami, Farzaneh Roostayi, Keyvan Mehrgan, Ali Khodabakhsh, were detained. Iran currently holds more journalists in prison that any other country in the world.
10 Dec 2010 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
Security authorities raided into the office of reformist newspaper Shargh on 7 December and detained journalists Keyvan Mehregan, Farzaneh Roostayi and Ahamad Gholami, along with chief editor Ali Khodabakhsh. According to reformist website Kaleme, the authorities also physically checked the staff’s mobile phones. The raid coincided with national student day which brought student protests across university campuses in the country.
10 Dec 2010 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, News and features
According to Iranian news website Mashregh, Hossein Derakhshan, known as Iran’s “blogfather” has been released on a bail of $1.5 million after 26 months in prison. Derakhshan had received a 19-and-a-half year prison sentence, with charges including “implementation and management of obscene websites” and “cooperation with hostile states”. He is expected to return to prison shortly.
