February 21, 2013
Arseh Sevom — From the “not again” department, we hear news that the Intelligence Ministry won’t let up on the BBC and continues to arrest, hold, […]
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February 4, 2013
In the wake of a crackdown on journalists in Iran combined with the harassment of their family and friends, no news is bad news. The Ministry of Intelligence promises there won't be an end to the arrests until the entire network is revealed, claiming that those arrested are being arrested for collaborating with foreign forces rather than working as journalists. Exiled journalist Masih Alinejad bitterly jokes of babies begging their mothers not to give birth so that they can avoid detention. Saghi Laghaie warns people to not share any details about those arrested that could be used against them. "Avoid writing about your shared memories or dialogues as they might be used against them…"
January 31, 2013
Arseh Sevom —Everything has its place in Iran: monkeys in space and journalists in prison. And, oh what a prison! After prisoners complain of their conditions, parliamentarians […]
August 7, 2012
We would be remiss if we didn’t congratulate Iran’s Olympic athletes, so congratulations to them. This week, the head of Iran’s Hemophilia Center reminds the world […]
July 16, 2012
In this week’s review, a former IRGC general writes a letter (1) which reads like a confession and covers the mass executions of the 1980s, the […]
February 6, 2012
Arseh Sevom --- For months now, Iranian state media has been slandering BBC Persian journalists, accusing them of a number of crimes including drug trafficking, sexual impropriety, and even rape. Recently, they also began detaining the family members of the journalists for questioning in the hopes of intimidating the foreign-based journalists.“This is unprecedented in its level of viscousness,” BBC correspondent Kasra Naji tells Arseh Sevom. "We have not seen this level of brazen and vicious attacks before.""It is impossible to miss the pattern of arrests and intimidation from the regime against those who challenge the dominance of its hold on information," says Arseh Sevom board president, Bert Taken. "We saw a sharp rise in arrests before the 2009 elections as well. This was particularly the case with women's rights activists, reporters, and bloggers. The harassment of the families of human rights defenders, journalists, and others is a new low for Iran. We know the mother of an imprisoned human rights defender was imprisoned simply for speaking with the international media. Arseh Sevom asks the Iranian government to rescind these policies and to respect its citizen's freedom of speech as guaranteed by its own constitution."
February 2, 2012
On January 31, 2012, The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President
of the Commission, Catherine Ashton, issued a statement of concerned about the state of journalists and netizens in Iran. She calls for Iran to review harsh sentences and for a moratorium on the death penalty. The text of the statement follows:
"I am extremely worried about the growing harassment and persecution of journalists and internet bloggers in Iran. The right to free speech is an internationally enshrined fundamental human right, which Iran itself has freely signed up to respect and protect. In the past few weeks, security forces have reportedly arrested many journalists, including Sahameddin Bourghani, Parastoo Dokouhaki, Hassan Fathi, Farshad Ghorbanpour, Ehsan Houshmand, Fatemeh Kheradmand, Saeed Madani, Shahram Manouchehri, Marzieh Rasouli, Arash Sadeghi and Mohammad Soleimani Nia. I call on the Iranian authorities to release these journalists and restore their rights to freely communicate their views.