Editor’s note: Journalist Javad Mahzadeh was released from Evin Prison in Tehran on November 25, 2011, after serving approximately 16 months in prison. He was released following a state pardon.
Javad Mahzadeh, a journalist and novelist, was arrested on October 22, 2009 on his way to work on the orders of the Revolutionary Court's prosecutor's office, according to local news reports.
Mahzadeh, a political analyst and a literary critic who wrote for the Web sites Iranian Diplomacy and Baran, was well-known in Iran for the novel, Take Away Your Laughter. Authorities confiscated a computer from his home, according to news reports. No formal charges had been disclosed by late last year.