Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has written to Tehran’s prosecutor calling for ‘fair investigations’ in the cases of journalist Roxana Saberi and blogger Hossein Derakhshan.
Derakhshan, also known as ‘Hoder’, is shortlisted for the Economist New Media Award at the 2009 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards.
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American-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi has been sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment after being found guilty of spying for the US by a Tehran court.
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The trial of journalist Roxana Saberi, accused of espionage, began in Tehran yesterday.
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On 14 February 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran declared a death sentence on novelist Salman Rushdie after the publication of The Satanic Verses. Twenty years on Lisa Appignanesi, recalls how a ground-breaking, visionary novel was hijacked and transformed into an international political cause
Plus: Bernard-Henri Lévy says the fatwa marked a retreat from tolerance
Kenan Malik on why Rushdie’s critics won the war
Peter Mayer on how Penguin faced down the threats
Malise Ruthven describes a political storm
Salil Tripathi says religious offence stifles debate
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