Authorities arrested Ghavami, an editor at the weekly Payam-e Mardom, in Kurdistan’s provincial capital, Sanandaj, on July 9, according to news reports and CPJ sources.
A Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj sentenced Ghavami to three years in prison for covering banned protests held before the governor’s office in Kurdistan province in 2005, according to Reuters, which cited the Iranian Students News Agency. The journalist’s lawyer, Nemat Ahmadi, told the Iranian Students News Agency that an appeals court upheld the verdict, the news Web site Rooz reported.
Ahmadi said the court convicted Ghavami of “activities against state security by participating in illegal gatherings, propaganda against the state and in support of opposition groups and for insulting official authorities,” Rooz reported. He said his client attended the protest solely as a reporter.
Payam-e Mardom was suspended on June 27, 2004, after 13 issues, according to news reports. The term of the ban ended on July 1, 2007.