With 52 journalists in jail, Iran hits new, shameful record

GVF -- Iranian authorities are now holding at least 52 journalists in prison, a third of all those in jail around the world, according to the latest monthly survey by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

“Iran is entering a state of permanent media repression, a situation that is not only appalling but also untenable,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “The Iranian government will eventually lose the war against information, but we are saddened every day that our colleagues are paying such a terrible price.”

The survery adds that twelve journalists were imprisoned in February alone, although seven were released. In January CPJ recorded 47 in jail.

The committee states that despite the shocking figures that have been released, the survey “does not include more than 50 other journalists in Iran who have been imprisoned and released on bail over the last several months. Five of those now in jail were detained prior to the 2009 crackdown.”

The current detainees include internationally known figures such as Emadeddin Baghi, the author and human rights defender, Mohammad Davari, an editor who helped expose prisoner abuse at the Kahrizak Detention Center, and Shiva Nazar Ahari, a human rights reporter who has been jailed twice in the last nine months and is being held in solitary confinement.

CPJ also says that in most cases, “authorities have filed vague antistate charges such as ‘propagation against the regime,’ insulting authorities, and disrupting public order. But many cases are shrouded in secrecy, without even formal charges being disclosed.”

The group also criticises the lengthy prison terms, lashes, internal exile, and lifetime bans on writing and other social and political activities as well as charges of Moharebeh (warring against God) which is punishable by death.

Currently, China is the world's second largest jailer of journalists, with 24 in prison, followed by Cuba, with 22. The number of jailed journalists is the highest CPJ has recorded in a single country since December 1996, when it documented 78 imprisonments in Turkey.

As the CPJ report demonstrates, Iran’s record of stifling the freedom of speech is truly and outstandingly shameful.