23 Jun 2009 | Uncategorized
The author is an Iranian who wishes to remain anonymous
The crackdown on the post-election protests in Iran has had several dimensions. The most visible aspect is the overwhelming security presence on the streets of Tehran and other cities, and the actual physical attacks on the protestors, which have led to several dozen deaths and many injuries so far. The least visible aspect is the media war and the state’s unceasing efforts to monopolise the sources of information. Somewhere between these two very visible and not-so-visible aspects falls the campaign of arrests and detentions. Although the Iranian authorities are increasingly accusing Britain and other western countries of being behind the protests, they have not been shy about arresting many reformist activists and journalists in Iran as well. The legal authority behind the arrests is Saeed Mortazavi, Tehran’s chief prosecutor. In a previous incarnation, Mortazavi was the press court judge when many reformists papers were banned after the brief press “spring” that followed Mohammad Khatami’s election as president in 1997. So Mortazavi’s battle against reformist activists and journalists is long-standing.
The arrest of Mohammad Ghouchani, editor-in-chief of newspaper Etemaad Melli (National Confidence), published by reformist presidential candidate Mehdi Karrubi’s party, is fairly typical and is described on this page of the newspaper: Ghouchani is the young smiling face on the left-hand side of the page. The column underneath, headlined “Editor-in-chief’s arrest” describes his arrest as follows:
“Mohammad Ghouchani, editor in chief of Etemaad Melli, was arrested at two o’clock in the morning on Saturday. No reasons for his arrest were given to him or his wife, Maryam Baghi [daughter of human rights activist Emadeddin Baghi]. At two o’clock on Saturday morning, about six security personnel went to his house and said that they had a warrant for his arrest. The security personnel took Mohammad Ghouchani from his home to the Etemaad Melli newspaper office and filmed him alongside his computer and his personnel effects, and then took him away.”
Maryam Baghi told Etemaad Melli: “Our efforts to find out what Ghouchani is being charged with did not lead anywhere. They only said that the reason for his arrest was the recent events. Of course, ‘recent events’ is not a charge and, if they detain someone, they should explain what he is being charged with…”
A recent editorial by Ghouchani is also re-produced in the column underneath his picture and the account of his arrest. In the editorial, Ghouchani said that nowadays, it is easy to become a journalist in Iran, but it is difficult to die a journalist (because newspapers are banned so often that no one can remain a journalist for very long). Ghouchani has been the editor-in-chief of several now-banned papers.
Read RSF’s list of jailed Iranian journalists and bloggers here
15 Jun 2009 | Uncategorized
This is a guest post by Jon Sawyer, Executive Director of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
On Saturday, Iranian officials contacted television journalists for The Associated Press in Iran and warned that the government would enforce an existing law banning provision of news video to the Farsi-language services of the BBC and the Voice of America. Both agencies broadcast to Iranians via satellite in their own language.
AP employees then contacted the BBC and VOA to discuss the order.
”It is the AP practice to comply with local laws regarding media. We are nonetheless determined to continue to provide accurate coverage of events in Iran,” said AP’s Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll.
There were a variety of other clamp-down steps affecting both international and domestic news organizations. For instance, officials telephoned several visiting international journalists with visas to cover the elections and told them that their visas would not be extended after the vote, a courtesy often offered in the past.
Two other international news agencies that operate in Iran, Reuters and Agence France-Press, could not be immediately reached for comment. Neither reported any restrictions on their journalists.
A spokesman for the Swedish network SVT, Geronimo Akerlund, said its reporter, Lena Pettersson, had been asked to ”leave Iran as soon as possible because the elections are over.”
Dubai-based news network Al Arabiya said the station’s correspondent in Tehran was given a verbal order from Iranian authorities that its office would be closed for one week, said Executive News Editor Nabil Khatib. No reason was given, but the station was warned several times Saturday that it needed to be careful in reporting ”chaos” accurately, he said.
German television network ZDF said Sunday on air that its reporter in Iran and other reporters were being ”prevented from doing their jobs in a massive form”. The network said it was unable to show a broadcast feed from the network’s correspondent depicting protests.
Italian state TV RAI said one of its crews was caught in a street clash. An Iranian interpreter was beaten with clubs by riot police and officers confiscated the cameraman’s videotapes, the station said.
Iran regulates and monitors the activities of international and independent media operating within its borders, and it closely watches and guides its own internal state media. Many reformist newspapers, magazines and websites have emerged in the past decade, but often come under restrictions or are shut down.
International media normally are allowed to work without censorship in Iran, subject to certain rules, such as seeking advance permission to travel to certain locations outside the capital or to interview government officials.
But Iran is more sensitive about news reports or blogs and Internet communications in Farsi, apparently concerned about the effect on its internal political situation.
20 May 2009 | Resources
Utne offers digests of independent ideas and alternative culture. Utne functions as a guide to the alternative and independent press.
20 May 2009 | Resources
Standpoint‘s core mission is to celebrate our civilization, its arts and its values – in particular democracy, debate and freedom of speech – at a time when they are under threat. Standpoint aims to be an antidote to the parochialism of British political magazines.
