Iranian security forces arrested Iranian Kurdish journalist Ali Khatibzadeh on September 22, 2022, while he was covering protests against the September 16 death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, after morality police arrested her for allegedly violating the country’s conservative dress law.
Khatibzadeh covers local news of his hometown, Saqqez, for the semi-independent Kurdish news website Mukrian News Agency.
On September 22, the reporter was crossing the street with another Mukrian News Agency journalist, Marzieh Talaee, to cover the protests in Saqqez when they were arrested and beaten, according to an eye-witness source who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal. Exile-run human rights website Human Rights in Iran also covered the arrests.
CPJ was unable to determine where the journalist is held, what, if any charges, he is facing, and the status of his health in prison.
CPJ has documented the arrests of dozens of journalists as the protests over Amini’s death spread across the country. Several of them were later released on bail.
CPJ emailed Iran’s mission to the United Nations in late 2022 for comment on the cases of imprisoned Iranian journalists but received no response.