Iranian journalist Mansour Iranpour is serving a one-year prison sentence after he was convicted on charges of spreading false news through his social media accounts and journalistic articles.
Iranpour is a reporter and columnist covering Iranian politics and local news in the central city of Kerman for the partially government-funded Ashkan News and the state-run Tabnak news site.
On January 16, 2022 Judge Moslem Salari of Branch 2 of Jiroft city penal court in Iran’s Kerman province convicted Iranpour on charges of spreading false news on his social media accounts and through articles he wrote for Ashkan News and the Tabnak site. He was sentenced to one year in prison, according to a report by Human Rights in Iran, an exile-based rights group, and a source familiar with the case who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal. In April, a Kerman province appeals court upheld Iranpour’s sentence, according to the same sources.
In May, Iranpour was arrested at the main judiciary office in Kerman province when he arrived there in response to a summons. He was transferred to Kerman city’s central prison to serve his sentence, according to CPJ’s sources, which did not specify the date in May. The journalist’s term began the day of his arrest.
Iranpour’s conviction stemmed from his reporting criticizing local government officials and alleging financial corruption and embezzlement on the part of different government offices in the city, according to those sources. The anonymous source told CPJ that some of Iranpour’s investigative reporting focused on a Kernan province representative who serves in parliament.
According to the Human Rights in Iran report and the source who spoke to CPJ, Iranpour is a former Iranian soldier and suffers from several health issues, including heart disease and diabetes. According to the anonymous source, Iranpour was beaten in custody and now suffers gangrene in his foot. He is being denied medical attention.
In September 2022, CPJ emailed Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York requesting comment about Iranpour’s imprisonment, but did not receive any reply.