[Reader-list] Iran Has Most Journalists in Jail

[Shuddhabrata Sengupta]

Dear all,

Some more information about the situation in Iran today.

regards

Shuddha
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jun/29/iran-most-journalists-jail

Iran has most journalists in jail
Oliver Luft, The Guardian, June 29, 2009
Crackdown since protests over disputed election raises number of  
imprisoned journalists to 33 - more than any other country

  Iran's media crackdown since protests over the disputed election  
earlier this month means more journalists are in jail there than in  
any other country, including China or Cuba, according to Reporters  
Sans Frontieres.

The press freedom campaigning body said that more than 33 journalists  
were in jail in Iran, up from just a handful before 14 June, when  
protests over the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began. Iran has  
leapfrogged China and Cuba, according to RSF.

At least 25 journalists arrested since the disputed election remain  
in prison, the Paris-based organisation said on Friday.

This clampdown has also seen Iran jump above Burma, which RSF claims  
has 14 journalists in jail, Eritrea, which has 17 jailed reporters,  
Cuba with 24 and even China, where 30 reporters – out of the 166 that  
RWB claims are imprisoned worldwide – are jailed. China was  
previously the biggest international jailer of reporters, according  
to RWB.

The press freedom organisation said it feared for the safety of those  
imprisoned in Iran. "Several witness accounts make us fear that  
torture and ill-treatment are being systematically inflicted on  
prisoners who have demonstrated against the regime," RWB added.

"Several journalists and bloggers were brutally treated by the guards  
and by men employed by the state prosecutor, Saaed Mortazavi."

Amnesty International today called for the Iranian authorities to  
release the journalists arrested since the elections. Journalists are  
at risk of torture in detention, the human rights organisation said,  
adding that the location of most remained unknown.

"It is shocking that journalists whose job it is to provide  
information to others are being detained, on top of all the other  
draconian measures the authorities have taken to restrict the free  
flow of information about what is really happening in Iran," said  
Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, the deputy director of Amnesty International's  
Middle East and North Africa programme.

"Rather than trying to investigate alleged abuses, the only message  
the authorities are sending is that they are seeking to hide the  
truth, both from their own citizens and the rest of the world."

Last week the entire staff of defeated Iranian presidential candidate  
Mir-Hossein Mousavi's newspaper, Kalemeh Sabz, was arrested, marking  
the intensification of pressure on domestic journalists reporting the  
ongoing protests.

The Iranian foreign ministry also accused the BBC and Voice of  
America of being mouthpieces of their respective governments and  
seeking to engineer the ongoing riots that followed the presidential  
election.

Another Iranian ministry also threatened to take "more stern action"  
against British radio and television networks if they "continued to  
interfere" in the country's domestic affairs.

This followed an announcement by the BBC World Service on 16 June  
that it was attempting to combat continued broadcast interference  
from within Iran by increasing the number of satellites it uses to  
transmit its Persian television news service and extending the  
channel's hours.

Shuddhabrata Sengupta
The Sarai Programme at CSDS
Raqs Media Collective
shuddha at sarai.net
www.sarai.net
www.raqsmediacollective.net