8 Dec 2009 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
Iranian authorities have threatened tougher action on protesters after tens of thousands marched at universities across the country in the biggest anti-government rallies since the disputed June elections. Dozens of people are reported to have been arrested after violent confrontations. Foreign journalists were banned from reporting on the rallies, and the Iranian authorities closed down mobile phone networks and severely restricted internet access. According to The Times dozens of government agents on motorbikes have surrounded the Tehran office of Mir Hossein Mousavi, the opposition leader, to prevent him attending rallies and the country’s chief prosecutor is threatening to arrest him. Read more here
20 Nov 2009 | Uncategorized
This is a guest post by Jenni Hulse
Last night, Index on Censorship hosted a screening of An Iranian Odyssey: Mossadegh, Oil and the 1953 CIA Coup, directed by Canadian-Iranian journalist and filmmaker, Maziar Bahari.
The film played to a full house, with latecomers finding room in the aisles. The atmosphere felt particularly celebratory as the screening had originally been arranged as part of a campaign for Bahari’s release, after he was detained in Tehran’s Evin prison in June. Happily, he was freed without charge on 17 October and allowed to return to the UK.
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21 Oct 2009 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, News and features
Kian Tajbakhsh, an American-Iranian academic, was sentenced to at least 12 years in prison on 20 October for his alleged role in anti-government protests following President Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election. He was arrested on 9 July, and was the only US citizen detained in the government’s post-election crackdown. Despite appeals for his release, notably from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Tajbakhsh received the longest prison sentence yet handed down in the mass trial of more than 100 opposition individuals. Tajbakhsh’s lawyer plans to appeal the conviction. (Guardian, BBC)
20 Oct 2009 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, News and features
Canadian-Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari, who was released from prison in Iran on Saturday after he was jailed in the aftermath of the country’s disputed elections, has returned to London.
Index on Censorship, along with Committee to Protect Journalists, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression and Bahari’s employer Newsweek magazine, led a high-profile campaign for his release.
