Iran’s parliament moves forward with troubling bill to further restrict internet
Washington, D.C., November 1, 2021 — The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed concern today that Iran’s parliament is moving ahead with a restrictive internet bill, despite objections from citizens and international observers. The legislation, the Cyberspace Users Rights Protection and Regulation of Key Online Services Bill, was undergoing review by a parliamentary subcommittee in…
Iranian photojournalist Majid Saeedi arrested while covering Afghan refugee camps
Washington, D.C., September 13, 2021 — Iranian authorities should immediately release photojournalist Majid Saeedi, drop any charges against him, and let him work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On August 25, security forces in the city of Khoy, in West Azerbaijan province near the border with Turkey, arrested Saeedi, a photographer for…
Iran arrests financial reporter Amir-Abbas Azarmvand on security charges
Washington, D.C., September 1, 2021 — Iranian authorities should immediately release journalist Amir-Abbas Azarmvand, drop the charges against him, and let him work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Today, Azarmvand, a financial reporter for the state run Iranian economic newspaper SMT, was arrested at 8:30 a.m. at his parents’ home in Tehran…
Iranian journalists remain vulnerable in exile, says formerly imprisoned columnist Nejat Bahrami
By CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program The revelation of a plot by Iranian intelligence agents to kidnap and extradite Brooklyn-based Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad shocked the world last month. Another Iranian journalist, Nejat Bahrami, experienced the nightmare of life in Iranian custody that Alinejad appears to have escaped. Last year he served five…
Two Kurdish Iranian journalists sentenced to 2.5 years in jail, 90 lashes
Washington, D.C., August 10, 2021 – Iranian authorities should not subject journalists Sharam Amjadian and Morteza Haq-Bayan to imprisonment or lashes, and should stop prosecuting members of the press for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On August 3, Branch 104 of the Sanandaj Penal Court, in the province of Iranian Kurdistan,…
Iranian nationals indicted in attempt to kidnap US-based journalist
This week, U.S. prosecutors indicted five Iranian nationals for allegedly surveilling and planning to kidnap Brooklyn-based journalist Masih Alinejad. The indictment “shows that Iranian intelligence agents will stop at nothing to silence independent members of the press, even those abroad,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour. Iranian agents have previously…
US indicts 5 Iranian nationals over attempted kidnapping of US-based journalist Masih Alinejad
Washington, D.C., July 14, 2021 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today strongly condemned the alleged plot by Iranian intelligence operatives to kidnap Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad in the United States. Yesterday, U.S. prosecutors announced charges against five Iranian nationals for allegedly surveilling and planning to kidnap Alinejad, a New York-based journalist and human rights…
Iran convicts 4 media workers over coverage of alleged corruption in Oil Ministry
On July 5, 2021, Judge Abbas Shaghaghi of Branch 6 of Tehran’s Media Court convicted four members of the press on criminal false news and defamation charges, according to reports by the exile-run news website IranWire and the semi-official Tasnim News Agency. The court convicted Mizenaft managing director Hamid Hajipour, Naftema managing director Mehdi Ghadiri,…
Syrian Kurdish security forces detain fixer Kamiran Sadoun overnight in Raqqa
On June 16, 2021, officers with the Syrian Democratic Forces’ General Security agency detained Kamiran Sadoun, a fixer for international journalists, for several hours in a jail in the city of Raqqa, according to the journalist, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app, and a statement by the local press freedom group the Syrian Kurdish…
Iranian journalist Najaf Mehdipour imprisoned with no charges disclosed
Washington, D.C., May 24, 2021 — Iranian authorities must immediately release journalist Najaf Mehdipour, known as Kaveh, and stop arbitrarily arresting members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On May 18, authorities in the eastern city of Darreh Shahr, in Ilam province, arrested Mehdipour, a freelance journalist, at his home and…