2005 World Press Freedom Review

"Iran is the Middle East's biggest jailer of journalists."

2005 World Press Freedom Review

While Iran’s controversial nuclear energy program dominated world headlines around the globe this year, within the national press, familiar methods of intimidation and harassment were used to prevent journalists from scrutinizing public affairs. Suspension of newspapers, legal summonses, frequent arrests and prolonged prison sentences combined to send a clear message to journalists that criticism of the regime would not be tolerated.
June elections brought Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Tehran’s ultra-conservative mayor, to power as Iran’s new president. In step with his hard-line background, Ahmadinejad has taken a tough stand on a number of foreign policy and domestic issues. So far, in his presidency, he has not shown a willingness to ease the unrelenting campaign of press harassment.
Iran is the Middle East’s biggest jailer of journalists. Violations of Iran’s vaguely worded press law, which forbids publication of ideas contrary to Islamic principles or detrimental to public rights, are punishable by harsh prison terms, exorbitant fines, floggings, or bans on working as a journalist. The forward momentum of the independent press, which flourished when former President Mohammad Khatami took power in 1997, has slowed since the Conservatives regained control of parliament in 2004. Many private publications have been shut down but those that still exist continue efforts to report independently.
Authorities intensified their crackdown on the Internet this year in an attempt to silence the only remaining forum for public debate. An increasing number of cyber dissidents faced judicial harassment through summonses and arrests and several were sentenced to lengthy periods of imprisonment. The state also began to employ more sophisticated filtering systems to block access to online information.
On 14 January, American hosting provider The Planet terminated their contract with the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) and refused to host ISNA’s online publications. ISNA is one of the few Iranian news agencies that publicises information about the arrests of journalists and political dissidents and is an important source of information for foreign organisations and media outlets. The press freedom organization RSF reported that the action was quite likely politically motivated.
In addition, in January, Tehran Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi ordered Internet service providers to block the main weblogs in the country, including Orkut, Nedstat, Blogspot, Persianblog and Blogrolling so that Iranian Internet users would be cut off from the blogsphere.
Blogging is an ever-growing phenomenon in Iran. Almost 50 per cent of Iranians are under 25 and the youthful population is turning to the Internet to spread opinions on a wide variety of issues and to voice concerns over politically sensitive topics. Blogs are used as a forum for free expression and tens of thousands of Iranians depend on this medium for communication. According to the London Times, Persian in now the fourth most widely used language on blogs, which are particularly useful in Iran because they are free and easy to use and anonymous.
Bloggers have become the latest target for authorities intent on stifling free expression. Nearly 20 bloggers were arrested between November 2004 and February 2005 including journalist Arash Sigarchi who was arrested on 17 January in the northern Iranian town of Rashat.
Sigarchi wrote a political and cultural blog, Panhjareh Eltehab, ("The Window of Anguish") and had criticized the regime and the arrest and treatment of Internet journalists. Although authorities had banned his blog, Sigarchi continued to update it regularly. He was also the editor-in-chief of the online news site Gylan Emrooz. Several days before his arrest he was interviewed by two foreign channels, the BBC World Service and the US-sponsored Radio Farda about the crackdown on the online press.
After his arrest, Sigarchi’s bail was set at approximately 17,400 euros, his trial later took place behind closed doors and in the absence of his lawyer. On 2 February, the Revolutionary Court in Gilan sentenced Sigarchi to 14 years in prison for expressing his opinions on the Internet and in the international press. The official charges brought against him included espionage, "aiding and abating hostile governments and opposition groups," endangering national security and insulting Iran’s leaders. International human rights groups decried the sentencing as outrageous, calling Sigarchi’s trial a sham used by authorities to send critics a warning to keep quiet.
In February, three more cyber dissidents were imprisoned in what was to become the Middle East’s biggest ever crackdown on online expression. On 5 February, an appeals court upheld the sentence of three years and 10 months given to Mojtaba Lofti for posting alleged "lies" on the Internet. The charges relate to an article he posted on his blog regarding "respect for human rights in cases involving the clergy." Lofti, a former journalist with the pro-reform daily Khordad, had been sentenced by a lower court on 14 August 2004 but was allowed to remain free until his appeal after posting bail money of around 55,000 euros.
Lofti’s health deteriorated while he was incarcerated as harsh prison conditions aggravated a lung ailment he has suffered from. He was released on 28 August after serving more than six months of his sentence.
Mojtaba Saminejad was first arrested in November 2004 for reporting on the arrests of fellow bloggers. He was released from detention at the end of January after paying bail money of approximately 43,000 euros. On 12 February, he was summoned back to the Tehran prosecutor’s office where he was notified that his bail fee had been doubled. Unable to pay the exorbitant amount, Saminejad was re-imprisoned.
On 23 February, Mohamad Reza Nasab Abdolahi was found guilty of insulting the country’s leaders and disseminating ant-government propaganda. He was sentenced to a six-month prison term and a fine of around 85 euros. Abdolahi, editor of the student newspaper Noghteh Sare Khat may have been arrested in connection with an open letter to Supreme Guide Ayatollah Ali Khamenei he posted on his weblog. He was also accused of reporting for foreign radio stations. Abdolahi and was released on 27 August after serving his full sentence.
Dozens of other journalists and cyber dissidents received summonses or harassment throughout the year as the central government implored local authorities to take a greater role in gagging bloggers. Writing about politics or social issues in Iran has become an act of bravery in the face of such repression. A human rights report adopted by the European Parliament in April condemned Iran’s "abject policies" towards journalists and cyber dissidents
Despite condemnations from the European Parliament and a host of other governments, authorities intensified their "woefully oppressive" model of Internet management in October when an Iranian company, Delta Global, was contracted to set up a new online censorship system. ISNA reported that the head of Delta Global, Rahim Moazemi, said he wanted to put an end to "anarchy of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs)" by centralising the filtering system. He also said his company’s technology was capable of blocking access to tools used to get around censoring systems. An RSF report stated, "These new measures point to an ideological hardening in the Iranian government and a desire by the new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to centralise authority."
The plight of journalist Akbar Ganji, who has been in prison since April 2000 received international attention this year as human rights organizations and leaders from throughout the European Union, the United States and the United Nations called for Ganji’s release.
Ganji, who wrote for the daily Sobh-e-Emrooz was convicted over articles he wrote revealing information that allegedly connected former President Hashemi Rafsanjani and former intelligence minister Ali Fallahian with the murder of opponents and intellectuals in 1998. He suffers from back problems and acute asthma, ailments that worsened significantly because of conditions inside Iran’s notorious Evin prison.
Ganji is serving one of the longest prison terms ever imposed on a journalist in Iran. He was forced to spend much of his six years in prison in solitary confinement. In May, he began a series of hunger strikes to protest his treatment.
On 7 June, a spokesman for the judiciary confirmed that Ganji was being granted extended leave from prison to receive specific treatment on the advice of a medical specialist, but Tehran’s chief prosecutor overturned this decision and ordered that he be re-arrested for violating the terms of his medical leave by speaking to the press. Ganji returned to prison on 11 June without having received the recommended treatment. He then began a hunger strike and by mid July had lost close to 50 pounds. On 17 July, he was transferred to Tehran’s Milad hospital.
Despite his deteriorating state of health, Ganji continued to post heavy criticism of the government on the Internet, activity that some observers believe might have ruined his chances of release. According to reports from Ganji’s wife, Massoumeh Shafiei, Iranian security officers visited Ganji in hospital in late August and asked him to apologize for his writings and to decline press interviews. If he agreed, they said he would be granted prison leave. She reported to the Emrooz news site that when Ganji refused these conditions the officers beat him. He was returned to Evin prison on 3 September.
A journalist who reported on Ganji’s plight was fiercely reprimanded on 25 July when he was arrested over articles published in the pro-reform newspapers Etemad, Toseeh and Joumhoryat about Ganji’s treatment. Massoud Bastani was held for two weeks in Evin prison and released on 6 August. One week later, he was taken to Arak prison in central Iran, which normally holds only non-political prisoners.
With over 10 journalists detained in Iranian prisons throughout 2005, concerns over their treatment while in detention were widespread. Almost all imprisoned journalists are kept in Evin prison, which has become notorious for its use of torture. In late 2004, a presidential commission was tasked with investigating mistreatment of detainees after nine journalists, all formerly held at Evin prison without official charge, came forward to describe the horrific conditions they suffered at the hands of secret security squads.
Each of the journalists testified before the public commission in late 2004. They described periods of lengthy solitary confinement and harsh psychological and physical torture. Following their appearances, Tehran’s chief prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi, threatened the detainees with lengthy prison sentences and harm to their family members as punishment for their testimony. Mortazavi has spearheaded the judiciary’s attack on press freedom since the current crackdown began.
On 3 January, Mortazavi held a press conference denying any mistreatment and threatening to prosecute the former detainees for "allegations against security forces and prison officials that are politically motivated." The journalists’ testimonies exposed Mortazavi’s role in authorizing their torture to extract confessions and in compelling them to appear on television to deny their mistreatment.
While Iranian journalists continue to face unjust imprisonment in retaliation for reporting that displeases the state, they also face harassment by other means. Throughout 2005, dozens of journalists have been called for interrogation, barred from practicing their profession, faced exorbitant fines from the court, had passports confiscated or have lost their means of employment when newspapers were suspended or closed down.
Dozens of publications were suspended throughout the year, some being closed temporarily while others were ordered to close permanently.
On 27 January, the Ministry of Islamic Guidance ordered the indefinite suspension of the weekly Jaame. Editor-in-chief Hassan Zarezadeh Ardeshir was later sentenced to seven years in prison after the newspaper published information about human rights in Iran. In the months that followed, the pattern of arbitrary suspension of newspapers and magazines for publishing "offensive" information continued without interruption.
On 4 April, Massih Alinejad, a reporter with the pro-reform daily Hambasteghi, was banned from parliament and became the victim of a smear campaign after she wrote a controversial news article detailing parliamentarians’ salaries. Following the report, parliamentarians began to harass Alinejad by calling her rude and impolite and criticizing her clothing.
Ethnic clashes in mid-April in the southern region of Khuzistan prompted greater restrictions on the press in that area. The clashes between security forces and the majority Arab community was sparked by a letter, allegedly written by a presidential advisor, which referred to government plans to reduce the proportion of ethnic Arabs in Khuzistan’s population. The province is home to nearly two million Iranians of Arab descent. A HRW report stated that hundreds of people were arrested in the conflict and close to 50 people were killed.
Following coverage of the events, 14 journalists were summoned and accused of publishing false news and publicity against the regime. One journalist, Yosef Azizi Banitrouf was arrested after eight plainclothes agents raided his home on 25 April. Banitrouf is a leading Arab intellectual. He had defended the protestors during the conflict and condemned the violence used by security forces against them. He has written more than 20 books on ethnic minorities in Iran and had worked for the Persian-language daily Hamshari. Banitrouf was released on 28 June after paying more than 20,000 euros for bail.
On 18 April, authorities closed the Tehran bureau of Al Jazeera, the Qatarbased Arab television network, after its correspondent reported on the clashes in Khuzistan. The government later banned foreign and Iranian journalists from travelling to Khuzistan.
Further revelations concerning the death of Iranian-Canadian photojournalists Zahra Kazemi were made public this year. Kazemi was arrested on 23 June 2003 as she was photographing the relatives of detainees outside Evin prison. She died a week later, while still in custody, from injuries sustained when authorities beat her.
In late March, Shahram Azam, a former Iranian army doctor who had been granted asylum in Canada, confirmed that Kazemi had been tortured and raped. Azam was the first person to examine Kazemi in a Tehran hospital before her death. He said her body had a fractured skull, several smashed and broken bones, missing fingernails and evidence of a flogging. Following Azam’s report, PEN Canada and other international human rights groups appealed to Iranian authorities to officially acknowledge responsibility for Kazemi’s death and to identify and bring to justice those who tortured and murdered her.
In a 2004 trial, Reza Aghdam Ahmadi, an Iranian security agent who had been arrested in connection with Kazemi’s death, was absolved of all charges. The Iranian government later stated that her death was "an accident due to a fall in blood pressure resulting from [a] hunger strike and her fall [to] the ground while standing."
Throughout 2005, the Iranian judiciary continued to delay its investigations into the role of its agents in Kazemi’s death. On 16 May, following repeated requests from lawyers representing Kazemi’s family, an appeals court was convened but the presiding judge ended the hearing before any proceedings could take place.
On 16 November, the case was reopened when a Tehran appeals court upheld Ahmadi’s acquittal. The appeals court ordered the case to be sent back to the prosecutor’s office. Iranian authorities have thus far refused to adhere to requests from Kazemi’s family to have her body exhumed and sent back to them in Canada.
Over 40 Iranian journalists died on 6 December when a C-130 military plane crashed into a 10-story apartment building on the outskirts of Tehran. The aging plane had developed engine trouble soon after taking off and the pilots lost control while trying to attempt an emergency landing. All 94 passengers and crew onboard were killed. The journalists were travelling to the southern city of Bandar to cover military manoeuvres on the southern coast. Several journalists who arrived to cover the manoeuvres were beaten and had their tapes confiscated by security forces.
http://service.cms.apa.at/cms/ipi/freedom_detail-new.html?ctxid=CH0056&docid=CMS1143540717566