Iranian American journalist Reza Valizadeh, who previously worked for Congress-funded Radio Farda in the United States, is in ward 209 of Evin prison serving a 10 year prison sentence. A former colleague told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, also funded by Congress, that he has been detained since September for cooperating with exile-based Persian media. The colleague did not specify the date of arrest.
Valizadeh returned to Iran in February 2024 after 16 years of working as a journalist in the U.S. in order to take care of his elderly parents, according to exile-based Iran International.
Security agents with the Iranian Intelligence Ministry and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) detained and questioned Valizadeh at the airport before conditionally releasing him. He was later summoned and interrogated multiple times and re-arrested in Tehran in September.
Initially his legal case was with Branch 15 of Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court under Judge Abolqasem Salavati. Later, the case was moved to Branch 28 under Judge Iman Afshari, who convicted him of “cooperating with hostile states” in relation to his work with a U.S. media outlet and sentenced him to 10 years in prison, barred him from leaving the country for two years, and said he must stay in internal exile in a remote location upon his release.
Valizadeh appeared before the court on November 16 and November 20 for 30 minutes each time and his lawyer Mohammad Aghasi wasn’t given the opportunity to represent him, according to source familiar with the case who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal. Valizadeh and his lawyer plan to appeal the verdict, according to the source and a report by RadioFarda, a branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
After his return to the country, in March, he wrote on social media that he was coming back “without a letter of trust, even verbally” after attempting to negotiate his return with Iranian intelligence, according to news reports.
CPJ emailed Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York in late 2024 for comment on the case of Valizadeh and those of other imprisoned Iranian journalists but received no response.