Iran / Middle East & North Africa

  

Maryam Abasian on the danger of being a queer journalist in Iran

After journalist Maryam (Asal) Abasian escaped Iran for Turkey in 2021, they posted a photo of their cropped hair, freshly dyed green, on Instagram for their 30th birthday. “New year, New decade, New life…” Abasian wrote as the caption. As a queer journalist, Abasian’s sexual and professional identity had long put them at risk in…

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Why the UN’s push for a cybercrime treaty could imperil journalists simply for using the internet

Cybercrime is on the global agenda as a United Nations committee appointed to develop a treaty on the topic plans for its first meeting amid pandemic-related delays. The process is slated to take at least two years, but experts warn that such a treaty – initially proposed by Russia – could hand new tools to…

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Iranian photojournalist Rahil Mousavi arrested on unspecified charges

Washington, D.C., November 11, 2021 — Iranian authorities should immediately release Arab Iranian photojournalist Rahil Mousavi, drop any charges against her, and let her work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On November 9, security forces with the Intelligence Ministry arrested Mousavi, a freelance photojournalist, in the southwestern city of Khorramshahr, in the…

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Iran shutters newspaper that implied supreme leader was responsible for poverty

Washington, D.C., November 8, 2021 — Iranian authorities must immediately reverse their decision to shut down the Tehran-based state-run daily newspaper Kelid, and should allow media outlets to report the news freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Earlier today, the Press Supervisory Board of Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance indefinitely revoked…

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Iranian journalist Manoochehr Aghaei begins 8-month prison sentence

Washington, D.C., November 1, 2021 — Iranian authorities must release journalist Manoochehr Aghaei immediately and unconditionally, and cease jailing members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On October 27, Aghaei, the editor-in-chief of the independent, social media-based news outlet MiandoabPress and a reporter for the state-run news website Young Journalists’ Club,…

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Two hands hold a phone depicting a branded table for sale and text.

Iran’s parliament moves forward with troubling bill to further restrict internet

Washington, D.C., November 1, 2021 ­­— The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed concern today that Iran’s parliament is moving ahead with a restrictive internet bill, despite objections from citizens and international observers.   The legislation, the Cyberspace Users Rights Protection and Regulation of Key Online Services Bill, was undergoing review by a parliamentary subcommittee in…

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Iranian photojournalist Majid Saeedi arrested while covering Afghan refugee camps

Washington, D.C., September 13, 2021 — Iranian authorities should immediately release photojournalist Majid Saeedi, drop any charges against him, and let him work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On August 25, security forces in the city of Khoy, in West Azerbaijan province near the border with Turkey, arrested Saeedi, a photographer for…

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Iran arrests financial reporter Amir-Abbas Azarmvand on security charges

Washington, D.C., September 1, 2021 — Iranian authorities should immediately release journalist Amir-Abbas Azarmvand, drop the charges against him, and let him work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Today, Azarmvand, a financial reporter for the state run Iranian economic newspaper SMT, was arrested at 8:30 a.m. at his parents’ home in Tehran…

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Iranian journalists remain vulnerable in exile, says formerly imprisoned columnist Nejat Bahrami

By CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program The revelation of a plot by Iranian intelligence agents to kidnap and extradite Brooklyn-based Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad shocked the world last month. Another Iranian journalist, Nejat Bahrami, experienced the nightmare of life in Iranian custody that Alinejad appears to have escaped. Last year he served five…

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Two Kurdish Iranian journalists sentenced to 2.5 years in jail, 90 lashes

Washington, D.C., August 10, 2021 – Iranian authorities should not subject journalists Sharam Amjadian and Morteza Haq-Bayan to imprisonment or lashes, and should stop prosecuting members of the press for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On August 3, Branch 104 of the Sanandaj Penal Court, in the province of Iranian Kurdistan,…

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