Iran / Middle East & North Africa

Washington, D.C., September 14, 2020 — Iranian authorities should release journalist Khosrow Sadeghi Borojeni immediately and cease arbitrarily jailing members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On September 9, Borojeni, a freelance columnist, was taken to Tehran’s Evin Prison to begin a seven-year jail term, according to reports by the exile-run…

Washington, D.C., September 2, 2020 — Iranian authorities should release journalist Nada Sabouri immediately and cease arbitrarily jailing members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On August 7, Sabouri, a freelance sports reporter, began a 3.5-year jail term at Tehran’s Evin prison, five years after she was originally sentenced, according to…

Washington, D.C., September 2, 2020 – Iranian journalist Mohammad Mosaed was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison, a two-year ban on journalism activities, and a two-year ban on using all communications devices by Branch 26 of Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court, according to a tweet from Mosaed earlier today. Mosaed, who will be honored with…

On August 13, 2020, Aman Mohammad Khojmali, a freelance journalist from the ethnic Turkman minority, was convicted of spreading false news and was ordered to pay a cash fine by Branch 102 of the Judiciary in an appeals court hearing in Gonbad-e-Kavus, a city in the northeast of Iran, according to news reports. The fine was 20 million rials (US$476);…

Washington, D.C., August 24, 2020 — Iranian authorities should release journalist Kayvan Samimi from prison immediately and cease arbitrarily jailing members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Samimi, 72, editor-in-chief of the center-left Iran-e-Farda magazine, began a three-year sentence today in Tehran’s Evin Prison, after his prior conviction on charges of “colluding against…

Washington, D.C., August 10, 2020 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Iranian authorities’ to reverse their decision to shut down the Tehran-based economic daily Jahane Sanat.  The Press Supervisory Board of Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance revoked the operating license of Jahane Sanat for publishing an interview with a member of Iran’s National Coronavirus…

How many people worldwide have been infected by the coronavirus, and how many have died as a result? Finding reliable information on the virus’s toll has proven such a challenging task that it is nearly impossible to answer these basic questions, five data journalists from around the world told CPJ in May and June. In…

Washington, D.C., June 29, 2020 – Iranian authorities should immediately drop charges against Majid Motalebzadeh, editor and reporter at the state-run Sedaye Eslahat newspaper, and release him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On June 20, Motalebzadeh appeared before the Cyber Crimes Court in Tehran after being summoned by the country’s Cyber Police Unit,…

Since the beginning of June, Iranian authorities have sentenced at least five journalists to prison sentences for their work, according to news reports and social media posts by the journalists. On June 1, Branch 46 of Tehran’s Court of Appeals sentenced Majid Motalebzadeh, editor of the state-run Sedaye Eslahat newspaper, and Hadi Kasaeizadeh, the former…

On May 31, 2020, Branch 6 of Tehran’s Media Court convicted Ali Motaghian, the managing director of the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA), on charges of “spreading false news,” according to a report by the news agency. CPJ could not determine what sentence Motaghian received or whether he is in custody. The semi-official Iranian…