Iranian security forces arrested Iranian journalist Kamiar Fakour on November 6, 2022.
Fakour covers the environment and labor issues for several local news outlets, including the state-run economic newspaper SMT.
Security forces arrested Fakour from his Tehran home on November 6 alongside his wife, freelance reporter Sarvenaz Ahmadi. Security forces raided their home, confiscated their personal devices, and took them to an undisclosed location, the couple’s lawyer Mohammad-Ali Kamfirouzi said in a tweet.
Fakour had used Twitter to cover protests following the September 16 death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, after morality police arrested her for allegedly violating the country’s conservative dress law. CPJ reviewed the tweets at the time, but Fakour’s account has since disappeared from the social media platform.
According to a report by the Amsterdam-based Iran-focused news outlet RadioZamaneh, Fakour had been previously sentenced to three years in prison in August 2022 for “spreading propaganda against the system” and “fake news,” but he was not taken into custody at the time of the sentencing.
CPJ was unable to determine where the journalist is held, whether he faces additional charges, or the status of his health in prison.
Authorities arrested dozens of journalists in Iran as the protests over Amini’s death spread across the country. Several of them were later released on bail.
CPJ emailed Iran’s mission to the United Nations in late 2022 for comment on the cases of imprisoned Iranian journalists but received no response.