Asia-Pacific, Civil Society, Headlines, Human Rights, North America, Press Freedom

US-IRAN: Journalists Call for Release of Jailed Colleagues

Charles Fromm

WASHINGTON, Feb 11 2010 (IPS) - On Thursday, the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, a coalition of international journalists, writers and publishers launched a campaign calling for the release of their colleagues imprisoned following disputed presidential elections last year in Iran.

The campaign, “Our Society Will Be a Free Society,” is named after a famous pledge that the leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khomenei, made during a 1978 interview with Der Spiegel Magazine, promising to protect freedom of the press and freedom of expression.

The coalition is comprised of The Committee to Protect Journalists, PEN, Reporters Sans Frontières, Index on Censorship, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, and the International Publishers Association.

The groups came together out of “a sense of shared, urgent concern for the welfare of journalists, writers, and bloggers and a profound alarm over the situation for free expression in Iran,” they said.

The campaign is not only pressing the government of Iran for the release of fellow journalists, but also urging the international community to demand that Iran release all of those imprisoned or detained due to alleged involvement in fomenting unrest and revolution related to the June 2009 elections.

The coalition sent an open letter to Ayatollah Khamenei, who succeeded Khomeini to lead Iran in 1989, calling on him to release “at least 60 writers, journalists, and bloggers [who] remain behind bars today in violation of the protections guaranteed in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s constitution and in international law.”

Last June, reform candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi lost Iran’s presidential election to incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, a figurehead of the country’s conservative establishment. With allegations of voter fraud abounding, thousands of Mousavi’s supporters – known as the Green Movement – took to the streets of Iran, calling for a fresh round of voting and other reforms.

Apart from some of the country’s leading journalists and bloggers, many human rights activists were also arrested in connection with the protests last summer and charged with fomenting a “velvet revolution”.

Mass trials have since been convened and heavy sentences handed down, including dozens of death sentences, many of which have been carried out since the post-election crackdown.

“Iran is now the biggest jailer of journalists in the world,” said the Committee to Protect Journalists Chair Paul Steiger. “We must send these courageous men and women, and the nearly 50 journalists currently behind bars, a clear message of support.”

The International Herald Tribune published an op-ed Wednesday by Iranian-Canadian journalist and filmmaker Maziar Bahari, addressed to Ayatollah Khamenei. The piece, titled, “Let My Colleagues Go”, cited the revolutionary leader’s pledges to an open society and transparent judiciary.

Bahari wrote, “The only accusation against many reporters who are languishing in Iranian jails at the moment is that they held a mirror to the actions of the Iranian government.”

He added, “They did not want to overthrow it. They never took up arms. All of them did their job as peacefully as journalists elsewhere around the world.”

Bahari, who covered Iran for Newsweek for more than 10 years, was arrested during last summer’s post-election turmoil and held in detention for months. He says he was tortured and threatened with death and was forced to confess to spying for Western intelligence agencies before being released on bail.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a 19-page report Thursday chronicling the increased size and scope of alleged human rights abuses perpetrated by Iran’s police and security services.

The report documents gross human rights violations, including extra-judicial killings, rape and torture; violations of the rights to freedom of assembly and expression; and thousands of arbitrary arrests and detentions.

“The government’s campaigns of intimidation have not worked to silence its critics,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The Iranian government’s effort to use anniversary celebrations to deflect attention from its human rights violations isn’t going to work,” Stork added.

Stork implored Iran’s government on its anniversary to “end their repressive tactics and guarantee citizens the right to express dissent.”

HRW called on Iran’s government to immediately release all those being held for peacefully expressing dissent and make certain that those responsible for human rights abuses are held accountable.

On Thursday, news services reported that hundreds of thousands of government supporters amassed in Azadi Square – also known as Freedom Square – in the capital Tehran, while security forces were deployed across the city to suppress any counter-demonstrations by the reformist Green Movement.

“By denying people of a peaceful way to vent their anger the government of Iran is forcing people to act out their anger on the streets,” Maziar Bahari said in a press release Thursday.