New York, June 13, 2013--Iranian authorities have intensified their crackdown on the Internet, including on media outlets and journalists, in the days leading up to Friday's presidential election, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Several opposition websites have reported being briefly hacked, while Google issued a statement on Wednesday that said tens of thousands of Gmail accounts of Iranian users had been targeted.

Some authoritarian governments try to hide their targeting of the press, but not the Islamic Republic of Iran. Officials there brag about it. Ahead of Iran's presidential election Friday, they have much to brag about.

New York, June 10, 2013--The Iranian government is attempting to deprive Iranian citizens of meaningful news coverage by blocking several news websites in the run-up to the country's presidential elections on Friday, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, May 21, 2013--Internet access has slowed, critical websites have been blocked, and several journalists have been summoned back to prison in Iran as the country's Guardian Council made a key decision today barring two leading candidates from the presidential election. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the broad efforts to deny Iranian citizens information in the run-up to the June vote.

Check out the full video of "Censorship and Power in Iran," a panel discussion on imprisoned journalists in Iran that was held on May 8 at the School of Visual Arts in New York. The panel, featuring Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari and CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon and moderated by political satirist Jon Stewart, was followed by a lively Q&A.

The discussion followed a special screening of Bahari's film, called "Forced Confessions," and a short video, called "Iran's Journalists in Chains" about the deterioration of press freedom in the country.

CPJ joined with the PEN American Center and the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran on Wednesday night to host a film screening and panel discussion on the deterioration of press freedom in Iran. Moderated by political satirist Jon Stewart, the panel featured Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari and CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. CPJ and our followers live-tweeted the event, which we have curated below using the social networking tool Storify.

Iranian blogger Sattar Beheshti died from abuse suffered in Evin Prison. In this video, produced by IranWire in cooperation with CPJ, Beheshti's mother describes the anguish she has endured and asks for support for all the other journalists and political prisoners being held in Iran. In all, 40 journalists were jailed as of April 2013, a testament to the iron grip the government has on news and commentary.

Editorial cartoons play a principal role in every newspaper and magazine in Iran, providing news, analysis, and satire in visual form. Since the presidential elections in 2009, when Iranian authorities launched an intense crackdown against journalists, civil society activists, and lawyers, many political cartoonists began to leave Iran. Those who stayed have adjusted their work to be more ambiguous, to communicate their message while attempting to evade government censorship and arrests.

New York, April 18, 2013--The cases of an Iranian blogger imprisoned for seven months without trial and a prominent freelance journalist whose health has deteriorated in prison illustrate the ongoing abuses being perpetrated by Iranian authorities, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.