New York — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) presented its International Press Freedom Awards for the year 2000 to four journalists–from Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malaysia, and Iran–for their courage and independence in reporting the news. These honorees endured jail, had their lives threatened and, in one case, survived a car-bomb attack,…
Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in IRAN New York, July 17, 2000–A leading Iranian reporter detained since late May was sentenced today by Tehran’s Press Court to five and a half years in prison, Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported. Emadeddin Baghi’s incarceration is the result of a multitude…
Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in IRAN New York, August 7, 2000 — A bill to reform Iran’s harsh press laws was quashed on Sunday by the country’s supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The next day, a liberal opposition journalist was arrested, according to wire service reports.
New York, June 28, 2000 — A clerical court in Tehran has ordered the indefinite closure of one of the country’s last remaining pro-reform newspapers, bringing to 20 the number of papers closed by Iranian courts over the past two months. On Sunday, June 25, Iran’s Special Court for Clergy, a conservative tribunal that operates…
New York, May 5, 2000 —When Iran’s top cleric, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, launched a scathing tirade against the country’s pro-reform newspapers on April 20, journalists braced for the inevitable showdown. On previous occasions when the supreme leader had excoriated the press, the conservative-dominated judiciary responded with remarkable swiftness, shutting down newspapers and hauling journalists to…