The Struggle For Free Press in Iran

From City Boy, fantastic Iranian blogger.:

Today is the World Press Freedom Day, not surprisingly it is not a day that is officially celebrated in Iran! The journalists are reportedly more and more censored in Iran and it’s got to the point that even the bloggers such as Kianoosh Sanjari (picture above) who took the responsibility of reporting events, are experiencing solitary confinement and white torture.
The increase in press censorship in Iran on all the media and also the crackdown on bloggers in Iran means that more and more Iranian people are listening to the media broadcasted from outside of Iran such as Voice of Israel and Persian TV and Radio services broadcasted from America and Europe.

Since Ahmadinejad came in to power, the government has changed to include much more of previous “Pasdaran” (revolutionary guards) and “VEVAK” (Ministry of Intelligence) officers. This has lead to wider crackdown of media and press in a much less expected ways.
During the last year over 10 newspapers were shut down and 38 journalists arrested. Most of them are in secret detention centers without any access to a lawyer and legal advise. Those who are not arrested are living in a constant fear of being kidnapped by plain clothed agents of the Islamic Republic.

In May, a cartoon published in the state owned “Iran” newspaper that was offensive towards the Azerbaijani ethnic minorities in north western regions of Iran and caused tensions in that region, lead to a rare incident where the government took action against it’s own official state newspaper, closed it down and harassed it’s journalists and cartoonist. Although interestingly the newspaper had been suspended for a day in days of the former “reformist” president Khatami as part of shut down of dozens of newspapers, in order to make it look like it was also considered a “reformist” newspaper.

Many journalists have also been detained for reporting or talking to Western media or Iranian press published or broadcasted outside the country. One of these journalists kidnapped by the regime was the Kurdish human rights advocate and journalist Shirko Jahani, who contributed to a number of foreign press including the Turkish news agency Euphrat. After being imprisoned on 27th of November, his whereabouts was hidden from his family and his family was asked to pay 5 million tomans (£2,700) for “bail”, he went on hunger strike in protest soon after.

In the last year also many newspapers and agencies were physically attacked by the regime and it’s supporters. These included the torching and destruction of the office for the Tamadon-e Hormozgan provincial weekly. It’s editor Mohessen Dorstkary and seven of it’s journalists were assaulted and taken to Evin prison with a bail of 30 million tomans (£20,000) each for insulting Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic. The satirical piece published compared the advent of Ayatollah Khomeini to AIDS.

Another of these attacks was on the weekly newspaper “Safir Dashtestan” (Dashtestan ambassador) that was known for it’s criticisms of many Mullahs including Mesbah Yazdi. The newspaper was closed down on October 16th, with it’s publisher, editor, and the editoral assistant all arrested for publishing another satirical article about the Supreme Leader Khamenei. The local Mullahs organised a protest outside the newspaper’s headquarters in Bushehr and attacked the building.

The Iranian press have created their own vague guidelines for “red lines” on how to report domestic and international affairs. The BBC journalist Rageh Omar experienced some of these in his documentary called “Rageh inside Iran” where he showed how an editor goes about changing the words in articles in order to get the points across without getting in to trouble. These are strictly followed especially when the topics include any Mullahs or any of the “sacred” Islamic figures, as well as endless media taboos such as any mention of homosexuality, prostitution, women’s rights, worker’s rights, political prisoners, etc, etc.

Self-censorship by media editors in fear for their life can be the reason behind the decrease in the number of known arrests of journalists. Although they are also very conscious in regards to the fact that the more critical of the regime they are, the better reputation they can gain among the general population, which could lead to much better sales.

However the journalists who are arrested often experience white torture in prison, as well as finding it extremely difficult to find another job when they are released. This is because the regime keeps a much closer eye on those who were previously arrested.

The harassment of journalists in Iran is not restricted to Iranian citizens. Ayfer Serce, a Kurdish journalist from Turkey, who was conducting an investigation on the suicides among women in Azarbaijan was killed and her suspicious death was blamed on an accident while the army cracked down on Kurdish miliatants in the region. Also, 3 years after the murder of Iranian-Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi who was killed during torture which most likely included rape and beatings by members of the VEVAK (Ministry of Intelligence) or Pasdars (revolutionary guards). The investigations in to her murder have been halted and her murderers never punished.

Last year also witnessed the release of Akbar Ganji, the editor and journalist for several publications, after 6 years in jail. He was imprisoned for writing popular articles exposing facts about the chain murders of Iranian intellectuals during the rule of the “reformist” president Khatami. Since his release he has been in America, giving various lectures regarding the human rights in Iran and regime change in Iran. In a recent interview with the Persian service of VOA (Voice of America), he claimed that he intends to return to Iran soon.

Sadly however regular crackdowns are carried out on satellite dishes in Tehran in order to take away one of the only ways that people can access uncensored news.
Much of this post was based on the annual report (Persian) by Reporters Without Borders on Iran. Originally posted here.

I would add the name of Ali Farahbakhash to the list. His research and journalism domain is economics and finance. He isn’t even a social or a political journalist. He was imprisoned for several months, forced to “confess” to having ties to outside agencies keen on overthrowing the Iranian government. He refused to confess to something he didn’t do, hence he was handed a sentence of three years’ jail term this week.

Ali Farahbakhsh