Iranian security forces arrested Iranian journalist Masoud Kordpour in the city of Bukan in West Azerbaijan province on September 20, 2022.
Kordpour is the owner and editor-in-chief of Kurdish semi-independent news website Mukrian News Agency, which has covered protests following 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.
According to the Farsi language service of U.S. Congress-funded Voice of America, Radio Farda, the journalist is in Urmia Central Prison after his September 20 arrest. Iranwire, an exile-run media outlet, said that Kordpour began a hunger strike after one month of detention.
Iranwire said that authorities informed Kordpour that he is accused of disturbing national security, a charge which carries a jail sentence of six months to five years. CPJ was unable to determine if the journalist has been officially charged.
Iranwire said he has not been able to contact his family.
Authorities arrested 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.