09 Nov 10 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, News and features
The mother of journalist Nazanin Khosravani, who was arrested last week, says her daughter is being held in solitary confinement at Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. Azam Afsharian told Radio Free Europe that in a short phone call Khosravani had said she was being kept in Ward 209, which is run by the Iranian Intelligence Ministry. Prior to the phone call, Evin officials had denied her daughter was even a prisoner there. Khosravani, who is currently unemployed but previously worked for reformist newspapers, was arrested on November 3.
01 Nov 10 | Middle East and North Africa, News and features
Today (Nov 1) marks two years since the arrest of Canadian-Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan in his parents’ home in Tehran. 
Index on Censorship joins in condemnation of Iran’s treatment of Derakhshan, sentenced to 19 and a half years for his writing
Index on Censorship has joined with ARTICLE 19, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and PEN Canada to express dismay at the sentence of 19 and a half years handed down to blogger Hossein Derakhshan. Although the prosecutor’s call for the death penalty was not approved, the sentence against Hossein Derakhshan represents a serious violation of Iranian obligations under international law. It is clear that Derakhshan, charged with cooperating with hostile countries, spreading propaganda and insulting religious figures, was sentenced for merely enjoying the right to freedom of expression.
Reports from former cellmates indicate that Derakhshan has been tortured while in prison and subjected to harsh interrogations. Index on Censorship, ARTICLE 19, CJFE, CPJ and PEN Canada believe that Derakhshan remains at risk for as long as he is in prison, and that the extreme length of the sentence adds to the danger that he faces. Derakhshan has been held in Evin prison for almost two years, but his case only went to trial last summer.
The 19 and a half year prison sentence was announced on the conservative website Mashreghnews.ir this morning. The sentence also includes several fines – €30,750, US $2,900, and £200.
The free speech groups call on the Iranian government to release Derakhshan immediately and meet its commitment to protect basic human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression. The groups also ask the international community to continue to hold Iran to its obligations and to support Iranian bloggers, journalists and writers to do their work without fear of imprisonment or reprisal.
Prison is no place for Hossein Derakhshan or for the dozens of other writers, journalists, academics and bloggers who continue to languish in Iran’s jails.
Sign a petition to free the blogfather
23 Oct 10 | Middle East and North Africa, News and features
“For the preservation of your newspaper and the health of its managing directors, pay careful attention to the following…” Replica front pages inspire a fake directive from the regime. Negar Esfandiary reports
On Friday, browsing an Iranian website 30 mail, I couldn’t help but notice a repeated image of Ayatollah Khamenei standing before a mammoth crowd. At first I thought it was a online freeze but at a second glance the familiar titles of Iran’s newspapers became apparent. Each was faithfully reporting the Supreme Leader’s trip to Qom, the holy city southwest of Tehran. One front page was barely distinguishable from another.
The website Neda Sabz Azadi took advantage of this comic-tragic state of affairs. Under the headline “Bring a logo, take a newspaper” they spoofed a directive from the “Ministry of Culture’s Press Deputy”.
This timely joke coincided with the day that Reporters Without Borders published its annual Press Freedom Index. Iran classified rock bottom at number 175 of 178 countries.
With the identikit front pages there for all to see, the truth was probably not so far from this five point “leaked” missive. Fiction based on fact from a media well-versed in the language of an authoritarian state. Translation of the “directive” below.
On the occasion of the extremely important trip of our leader — but pertinent to all Muslims in human history — to the holy city of Qom the most important city in the world, photographs and suggested headlines are attached.
For the preservation of the status of your newspaper and the health of its managing directors, pay careful attention to the following points:
1. One photo for half front page usage with at least 75 per cent coverage and up to 150 per cent. Note: Newspapers who have received warnings should make every effort to show their goodwill by printing the photograph at 90 per cent. Other more insider newspapers know what to do.
2.The use of at least one of the headlines below is obligatory:
* Vaccination by ‘88 intrigue (insider papers to all use this)
[Implying that the people were immunised and united after the 2009 post-election uprising.
* Ghadir-e-Ghom (only for use by the most insider papers)
[Alluding to a place of pilgrimage (of the same name) in Saudi Arabia where the prophet Mohammad spoke.]
19 Oct 10 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
Doctor and blogger Mehdi Khazali has been arrested in Tehran, charged with “acting against national security and disturbing public opinion”. His website is openly critical of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and he has controversially claimed that the president has Jewish roots. In 2008, he was disqualified from standing in parliamentary elections and spent 23 days in solitary confinement last year following the post-election crackdown. His father is a prominent conservative cleric and member of the influential Assembly of Experts, who has disavowed his son’s actions.
