Ahmadi, an editor with the economic daily Asia, was arrested by Iranian authorities in July, sometime after his Asia colleague Iraj Jamshidi was detained on July 6. The arrests occurred after Asia published a photograph of Maryam Rajavi, leader of the opposition group People’s Mujahadeen. The U.S. government-funded Radio Farda reported in December that the journalist was held in solitary confinement and quoted the journalist’s sister as saying she believed that her brother was jailed for articles he wrote about corruption in the Tehran Stock Exchange. Iranian authorities have not yet released details as to why they detained Ahmadi, and it is unclear whether any formal charges have been made against him.
On January 8, 2004, the journalist was released. Attempts by CPJ to contact Ahmadi after his release were unsuccessful.