Iran / Middle East & North Africa

  

In Iran, journalists arrested, Khamenei calls media ‘evil’

New York, June 19, 2009–In his first public address to the nation since demonstrations erupted in many cities across Iran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei today blamed foreign media, calling it “evil” for attempting to divide the people of Iran. Iranian authorities continue to crack down on journalists in an attempt to control information as demonstrations…

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Iran censors newspapers amid unrest

New York, June 18, 2009–With street demonstrations continuing in Tehran, Iranian authorities expanded censorship, banning the publication of two newspapers. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on the authorities to lift the bans and to allow international reporters to return to the country. 

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Iran should allow journalists to cover opposition rallies

New York, June 17, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists urges the Iranian government to lift all restrictions on foreign journalists and allow them to cover Thursday’s planned rallies in support of defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi.

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Iran bars foreign media from reporting on protests

New York, June 16, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Iranian government’s decision to bar foreign journalists from leaving their offices to report, film, or take photographs–a restriction intended to prevent news coverage of protests over the disputed presidential election.  

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CPJ condemns Tehran’s ban on foreign reporting

We issued the following statement in response to media reports today from Iran of repeated disruptions in mobile communications and Internet services, and an Interior Ministry ban on foreign reporters covering “illegal protests” without prior permission…

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Iranian authorities crack down on media

New York, June 15, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists called today for an end to the Iranian authorities’ ongoing crackdown on media following the disputed re-election of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. 

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Saberi (Reuters)

Saberi to Lee and Ling: ‘You are not alone’

Roxana Saberi, who was imprisoned in Iran for nearly four months, offers her thoughts on the detentions of U.S. journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee in North Korea. In this interview with CPJ, Saberi, left, said she was “amazed and very moved at the support I received” while in prison. “You are not alone,” she…

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CPJ Impact

May 2009News from the Committee to Protect Journalists

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Inside the defense of Roxana Saberi

Roxana Saberi was released on Monday after more than four months imprisonment at Tehran’s Evin Prison. She had been convicted of spying for the U.S. in a closed-door, one-hour trial on April 18 in a notoriously harsh Iranian Revolutionary Court and given an eight-year jail sentence. On Sunday, a court of appeal in Tehran gave…

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Roxana Saberi released from prison in Iran

New York, May 11, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the release today of freelance journalist Roxana Saberi, and called on the Iranian government to safeguard the rights of several other journalists currently in jail.

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