New York, August 3, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed by news
reports in Iran indicating that furloughed journalists are being summoned back
to prison while new journalists continue to be convicted on manufactured
charges. Reports of journalists' deteriorating physical and mental health are
equally disturbing.
"That the legal rights of accused and imprisoned journalists in Iran are disregarded with regularity has been established beyond a doubt by scores of individual cases documented by CPJ and others," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. "Multiple legal analyses have also outlined how the authorities are indifferent to the letter and the spirit of Iranian law in their vindictive pursuit of journalists who are viewed as political adversaries to be silenced or eliminated."