Jailed for being a journalist

Amnesty International - Journalists and media workers in Iran are yet again targeted for repression as Amnesty International has documented a surge over the last few months in the number of media professionals being arrested and imprisoned for carrying out their journalistic activities. The fresh crackdown appears to be aimed at crushing hopes heralded by promises of change and increased freedoms that followed the election of President Hassan Rouhani.

Amnesty International is urging the Iranian authorities to release immediately and unconditionally all those arrested and imprisoned in recent months if they have been detained solely for their peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression, association, and assembly.

Since the 2009 disputed presidential election, a wide range of dissenting voices have been the target of state repression. In a bid to stifle any public debate and virtually all criticism of their record in various spheres, including human rights, the authorities further tightened their grip on freedom of expression including by closing down publications, jailing media workers, and banning journalists and filmmakers from reporting and making films. In the year that followed the 2009 election, over 100 journalists, many of whom worked for publications perceived by the authorities as “reformist”, were believed to have been arrested.

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