28 Sep 2010 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
Iranian authorities have revoked the filming permit of an internationally acclaimed director over his support for dissident filmmakers. Asghar Ferhadi, who won the award for best director at the Berlin festival in 2009, called for change at a recent Iranian awards ceremony. He spoke out in favour of actress Golshifteh Farahani, and directors Jafar Panahi, who spent three months in jail, and Mohsen Makhmalbaf, who supports the opposition Green Movement. Deputy Culture Minister Javad Shamaqdari described Ferhadi’s comments as “inappropriate”. He said that the director was given a week to change his remarks.
21 Sep 2010 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
Iran has sentenced a human rights activist, Shiva Nazar Ahari who is the founder of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters in Tehran, to six years in prison on charges of anti-government activities. Her lawyer said she has to pay a $400 fine as an alternative punishment to 74 lashes. n 13 september, Ahari was released from prison on bail of around USD$200,000. She was convicted of moharebeh or “waging war against God” and had received three years for that charge.
14 Sep 2010 | Uncategorized
The writer and journalist Javad Mahzadeh was granted prison leave last week. He was arrested for an unknown reason on 21 October 2009 and spent most of his time in detention in Evin Prison’s Block 350. He was released after 11 months in detention. He was sentenced to four years by the court of first instance and the sentence was upheld by the appeals court. Mahzadeh had asked the prison authorities for prison leave on numerous occasions, but his requests had been rejected. He is now out on prison leave on payment of bail of 400m tomans [400,000 dollars].
Index published an extract from Javad Mahzadeh’s acclaimed novel Take Away My Laughter earlier this year. In a moving introduction, the writer Azar Mahloujian commented: “Writers have never been secure in Iran. Censorship, bans on publishing, arrest and murder await those whose words penetrate the surface, disclosing what is false and pointing out the lack of political and civil liberties in the country.”
7 Sep 2010 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
A free speech defender and lawyer who has represented imprisoned journalists, Nasrin Sotoudeh, was arrested on 5 September on charges of anti-government propaganda and conspiring against the regime after responding to a summons from a revolutionary court prosecutor’s office located inside Tehran’s Evin prison. She has defended political prisoners such as journalists Issa Saharkhiz and Mohammad Sadegh Kaboudvand.
