Return-Path: Received: from imo-r09.mx.aol.com (imo-r09.mx.aol.com [152.163.225.105]) by fastersite.propagation.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id CAA17481 for ; Sun, 2 Feb 2003 02:50:09 -0600 From: Iaczine@aol.com Received: from Iaczine@aol.com by imo-r09.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v34.13.) id i.77.8d485e9 (18555) for ; Sun, 2 Feb 2003 03:46:16 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <77.8d485e9.2b6e34d8@aol.com> Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 03:46:16 EST Subject: Iran - Concern grows about imprisoned journalists To: Iaczine@aol.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="part1_77.8d485e9.2b6e34d8_boundary" X-Mailer: AOL 7.0 for Windows US sub 10641 Status: --part1_77.8d485e9.2b6e34d8_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable 24 January 2003 - Reporters Without Borders (http://www.rsf.fr/) IRAN Concern grows about imprisoned journalists as country's main paper is shut down Reporters Without Borders today denounced the closure of the country's=20 biggest daily newspaper, Hamshari, and said it was concerned about the fate=20 of two arrested journalists. Five reformist papers have now been shut down=20 in the past three weeks by the regime's hardliners. "The present offensive against Iran's most popular newspapers is alarming an= d=20 the excuse for the closure of Hamshari is clearly bogus," said Reporters=20 Without Border secretary-general Robert M=E9nard.=20 "At this rate, the non-conservative press will simply disappear in Iran," he= =20 said, calling for the ban on all five papers to be lifted at once and for th= e=20 two journalists to be freed, along with seven others. There are more=20 journalists in prison in Iran than anywhere else in the Middle East. Hamshari was suspended for 10 days after refusing to print a right-of-reply=20 article from Ali-Reza Majub, secretary-general of the government-controlled=20 trade union, the Workers' House, and other officials. The paper has been=20 singled out by the authorities, who have banned its circulation beyond the=20 capital, on the pretext that it is owned by the Teheran city authorities. At the same time, Taban, a paper in the northern town of Gazvin, was also=20 suspended. Since the beginning of the year, three other papers, the dailies= =20 Hayat-=E9-No, Bahar and Nowrooz have been suspended. Little has been heard of the two journalists, Alireza Eshraghi and Ali-Reza=20 Jabari, since their arrest on 12 January and 28 December last.=20 Esraghi, of Hayat-=E9-no, was picked up after the paper reprinted on 8 Janua= ry=20 a 1937 US newspaper cartoon about the pressure exerted by then-President=20 Franklin Roosevelt on the US Supreme Court, represented by a bearded,=20 black-robed old man resembling the Islamic regime's founder, the late=20 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. It was printed alongside an interview with a=20 social science professor about "social collapse" in Iran. The cartoon was=20 considered insulting to Khomeini's memory and the paper was closed. Esraghi is being held at Evin prison, near Teheran. On 19 January,=20 intelligence ministry officials took him to his office and searched it. The= =20 same day, another Hayat-=E9-No journalist, Akram Didari, was summoned by the= =20 religious court for questioning. Jabari, a translator and freelance contributor to several independent=20 newspapers, including Adineh, was arrested at his office in Teheran on 28=20 December by non-uniformed individuals. The next day his wife went to Adareh=20 Amaken, a city police department considered close to the intelligence servic= e=20 and which has summoned many journalists for questioning in recent weeks. Sh= e=20 was told nobody by the name of her husband had been arrested. She was given= =20 the same answer at the central police station. An interview with Jabari was published on 25 December in a Persian-language=20 newspaper in Canada, Charvand, in which he said the country's hardline=20 spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Guide of the Islamic=20 Revolution, wanted the crisis in Iran to get worse. Jabari, a member of the= =20 Iranian Writers' Association, has translated many Iranian works, some of the= m=20 banned, into English. His wife is concerned about his fate because he has=20 heart problems. 24 janvier 2003 IRAN Inqui=E9tude sur deux journalistes emprisonn=E9s Le plus grand tirage de la presse iranienne suspendu Le quotidien Hamshahri, le plus grand tirage de la presse iranienne, est=20 suspendu pour dix jours =E0 compter du 23 janvier. Par ailleurs, les famille= s=20 des journalistes Ali-Reza Jabari et Alireza Eshraghi, arr=EAt=E9s ces derni= =E8res=20 semaines, sont sans nouvelles d'eux. Reporters sans fronti=E8res demande aux autorit=E9s iraniennes la lib=E9rati= on des=20 deux journalistes ainsi que la r=E9ouverture imm=E9diate de Hamshahri et des= =20 autres titres suspendus depuis le d=E9but de l'ann=E9e. Pas moins de cinq ti= tres=20 ont, en effet, =E9t=E9 sanctionn=E9s depuis le 1er janvier. "On ne peut que=20 s'alarmer de cette offensive qui vise les journaux les plus populaires. Nul=20 doute que la justice a utilis=E9 un pr=E9texte fallacieux pour punir Hamshah= ri.=20 Si les durs du r=E9gime poursuivent ces attaques, tout laisse =E0 penser que= la=20 presse non-conservatrice de ce pays va tout simplement finir par=20 dispara=EEtre", a d=E9clar=E9 Robert M=E9nard, secr=E9taire g=E9n=E9ral de R= eporters sans=20 fronti=E8res. L'organisation demande =E9galement la lib=E9ration de sept aut= res=20 journalistes actuellement incarc=E9r=E9s. L'Iran est aujourd'hui la plus gra= nde=20 prison du Moyen-Orient pour les journalistes. Le quotidien Hamshahri est suspendu pendant dix jours pour avoir refus=E9 de= =20 publier un droit de r=E9ponse d'Ali-Reza Mahjoub, secr=E9taire g=E9n=E9ral d= e la=20 Maison de l'ouvrier, syndicat officiel des travailleurs. Cible privil=E9gi= =E9e=20 des autorit=E9s, ce journal avait d=E9j=E0 =E9t=E9 interdit de distribution=20= en dehors=20 de la capitale, sous pr=E9texte qu'il appartenait =E0 la ville de T=E9h=E9ra= n. Dans=20 le m=EAme temps, Taban, un titre de la province de Gazvin (nord du pays), a=20= =E9t=E9=20 =E9galement suspendu temporairement. Depuis le 1er janvier, les quotidiens=20 Hayat-=E9-No, Bahar et Nowrooz ont =E9t=E9 suspendus par la justice. On est, par ailleurs, toujours sans nouvelles de deux journalistes=20 emprisonn=E9s. Depuis le 12 janvier, Alireza Eshraghi, journaliste de=20 Hayat-=E9-No, est d=E9tenu =E0 la prison d'Evine (T=E9h=E9ran). Son arrestat= ion et la=20 fermeture du journal sont intervenues apr=E8s la publication d'une caricatur= e,=20 le 8 janvier dernier. Cette derni=E8re repr=E9sentait un homme =E2g=E9, =E0=20= la barbe=20 blanche, v=EAtu d'une longue robe noire et assis par terre, avec le pouce d'= une=20 main g=E9ante pressant sur sa t=EAte (et l'inscription "Roosevelt" sur la=20 manche). La caricature illustrait un entretien avec un professeur en science= s=20 sociales sur le th=E8me de l'effondrement social. Ce dessin, pris sur un sit= e=20 officiel am=E9ricain, avait =E9t=E9 publi=E9 en 1937 dans un journal am=E9ri= cain pour=20 illustrer les pressions du pr=E9sident Roosevelt sur la Cour supr=EAme=20 am=E9ricaine. Le 19 janvier, des agents du minist=E8re des Renseignements on= t=20 conduit le journaliste =E0 son bureau qui a =E9t=E9 perquisitionn=E9. Le m= =EAme jour,=20 Akram Didari, journaliste de Hayat-=E9-No, a =E9t=E9 convoqu=E9 par le tribu= nal du=20 clerg=E9. Le 28 d=E9cembre 2002, Ali-Reza Jabari, traducteur et collaborateur de=20 plusieurs journaux ind=E9pendants dont Adineh, a =E9t=E9 arr=EAt=E9 =E0 son=20= bureau par=20 des personnes en civil. Le lendemain, son =E9pouse s'est rendue =E0 Adareh=20 Amaken, une section de la police t=E9h=E9ranaise consid=E9r=E9e comme proche= des=20 services de renseignements, qui avait convoqu=E9 de nombreux journalistes=20 durant les derni=E8res semaines. L=E0, on lui a r=E9pondu qu'aucune personne= du nom=20 de Ali-Reza Jabari n'avait =E9t=E9 arr=EAt=E9e. M=EAme r=E9ponse au commissa= riat de=20 police. Le 25 d=E9cembre 2002, une interview de Ali-Reza Jabari =E9tait paru= dans=20 Charvand, publication persophone bas=E9e au Canada, dans laquelle il expliqu= ait=20 notamment que le Guide la R=E9publique islamique voulait que la crise d=E9g= =E9n=E8re=20 dans tout le pays. Sa femme, qui est sans nouvelles de lui, est d'autant plu= s=20 inqui=E8te que son =E9poux souffre de probl=E8mes cardiaques. Ali-Reza Jabar= i,=20 membre de l'Association des =E9crivains iraniens, est l'auteur de nombreuses= =20 traductions en anglais d'ouvrages dont certains ont =E9t=E9 interdits. --=20 Virginie Locussol (norddelafrique@rsf.org / northernafrica@rsf.org /=20 iran@rsf.org) Bureau Nord de l'Afrique - Iran / Northern Africa - Iran desk Reporters sans fronti=E8res / Reporters Without Borders 5, rue Geoffroy-Marie 75009 Paris - FRANCE T=E9l. (33) 1 44 83 84 84 Fax. (33) 1 45 23 11 51 --part1_77.8d485e9.2b6e34d8_boundary Content-Type: text/html; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable 24 January 2003 - Reporters Without Borders
(http://www.rsf.fr/)

IRAN

Concern grows about imprisoned journalists
as country's main paper is shut down

Reporters Without Borders today denounced the closure of the country's bigge= st daily newspaper, Hamshari, and said it was concerned about the fate of tw= o arrested journalists.  Five reformist papers have now been shut down=20= in the past three weeks by the regime's hardliners.

"The present offensive against Iran's most popular newspapers is alarming an= d the excuse for the closure of Hamshari is clearly bogus," said Reporters W= ithout Border secretary-general Robert M=E9nard.

"At this rate, the non-conservative press will simply disappear in Iran," he= said, calling for the ban on all five papers to be lifted at once and for t= he two journalists to be freed, along with seven others. There are more jour= nalists in prison in Iran than anywhere else in the Middle East.

Hamshari was suspended for 10 days after refusing to print a right-of-reply=20= article from Ali-Reza Majub, secretary-general of the government-controlled=20= trade union, the Workers' House, and other officials.  The paper has be= en singled out by the authorities, who have banned its circulation beyond th= e capital, on the pretext that it is owned by the Teheran city authorities.<= BR>
At the same time, Taban, a paper in the northern town of Gazvin, was also su= spended.  Since the beginning of the year, three other papers, the dail= ies Hayat-=E9-No, Bahar and Nowrooz have been suspended.

Little has been heard of the two journalists, Alireza Eshraghi and Ali-Reza=20= Jabari, since their arrest on 12 January and 28 December last.

Esraghi, of Hayat-=E9-no, was picked up after the paper reprinted on 8 Janua= ry a 1937 US newspaper cartoon about the pressure exerted by then-President=20= Franklin Roosevelt on the US Supreme Court, represented by a bearded, black-= robed old man resembling the Islamic regime's founder, the late Ayatollah Ru= hollah Khomeini.  It was printed alongside an interview with a social s= cience professor about "social collapse" in Iran.  The cartoon was cons= idered insulting to Khomeini's memory and the paper was closed.

Esraghi is being held at Evin prison, near Teheran.  On 19 January, int= elligence ministry officials took him to his office and searched it.  T= he same day, another Hayat-=E9-No journalist, Akram Didari, was summoned by=20= the religious court for questioning.

Jabari, a translator and freelance contributor to several independent newspa= pers, including Adineh, was arrested at his office in Teheran on 28 December= by non-uniformed individuals. The next day his wife went to Adareh Amaken,=20= a city police department considered close to the intelligence service and wh= ich has summoned many journalists for questioning in recent weeks.  She= was told nobody by the name of her husband had been arrested.  She was= given the same answer at the central police station.

An interview with Jabari was published on 25 December in a Persian-language=20= newspaper in Canada, Charvand, in which he said the country's hardline spiri= tual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Guide of the Islamic Revolution, wa= nted the crisis in Iran to get worse.  Jabari, a member of the Iranian=20= Writers' Association, has translated many Iranian works, some of them banned= , into English.  His wife is concerned about his fate because he has he= art problems.





24 janvier 2003


IRAN
Inqui=E9tude sur deux journalistes emprisonn=E9s
Le plus grand tirage de la presse iranienne suspendu

Le quotidien Hamshahri, le plus grand tirage de la presse iranienne, est sus= pendu pour dix jours =E0 compter du 23 janvier. Par ailleurs, les familles d= es journalistes Ali-Reza Jabari et Alireza Eshraghi, arr=EAt=E9s ces derni= =E8res semaines, sont sans nouvelles d'eux.

Reporters sans fronti=E8res demande aux autorit=E9s iraniennes la lib=E9rati= on des deux journalistes ainsi que la r=E9ouverture imm=E9diate de Hamshahri= et des autres titres suspendus depuis le d=E9but de l'ann=E9e. Pas moins de= cinq titres ont, en effet, =E9t=E9 sanctionn=E9s depuis le 1er janvier. "On= ne peut que s'alarmer de cette offensive qui vise les journaux les plus pop= ulaires. Nul doute que la justice a utilis=E9 un pr=E9texte fallacieux pour=20= punir Hamshahri. Si les durs du r=E9gime poursuivent ces attaques, tout lais= se =E0 penser que la presse non-conservatrice de ce pays va tout simplement=20= finir par dispara=EEtre", a d=E9clar=E9 Robert M=E9nard, secr=E9taire g=E9n= =E9ral de Reporters sans fronti=E8res. L'organisation demande =E9galement la= lib=E9ration de sept autres journalistes actuellement incarc=E9r=E9s. L'Ira= n est aujourd'hui la plus grande prison du Moyen-Orient pour les journaliste= s.

Le quotidien Hamshahri est suspendu pendant dix jours pour avoir refus=E9 de= publier un droit de r=E9ponse d'Ali-Reza Mahjoub, secr=E9taire g=E9n=E9ral=20= de la Maison de l'ouvrier, syndicat officiel des travailleurs. Cible privil= =E9gi=E9e des autorit=E9s, ce journal avait d=E9j=E0 =E9t=E9 interdit de dis= tribution en dehors de la capitale, sous pr=E9texte qu'il appartenait =E0 la= ville de T=E9h=E9ran. Dans le m=EAme temps, Taban, un titre de la province=20= de Gazvin (nord du pays), a =E9t=E9 =E9galement suspendu temporairement. Dep= uis le 1er janvier, les quotidiens Hayat-=E9-No, Bahar et Nowrooz ont =E9t= =E9 suspendus par la justice.

On est, par ailleurs, toujours sans nouvelles de deux journalistes emprisonn= =E9s. Depuis le 12 janvier, Alireza Eshraghi, journaliste de Hayat-=E9-No, e= st d=E9tenu =E0 la prison d'Evine (T=E9h=E9ran). Son arrestation et la ferme= ture du journal sont intervenues apr=E8s la publication d'une caricature, le= 8 janvier dernier. Cette derni=E8re repr=E9sentait un homme =E2g=E9, =E0 la= barbe blanche, v=EAtu d'une longue robe noire et assis par terre, avec le p= ouce d'une main g=E9ante pressant sur sa t=EAte (et l'inscription "Roosevelt= " sur la manche). La caricature illustrait un entretien avec un professeur e= n sciences sociales sur le th=E8me de l'effondrement social. Ce dessin, pris= sur un site officiel am=E9ricain, avait =E9t=E9 publi=E9 en 1937 dans un jo= urnal am=E9ricain pour illustrer les pressions du pr=E9sident Roosevelt sur=20= la Cour supr=EAme am=E9ricaine. Le 19 janvier, des agents du minist=E8re des= Renseignements ont conduit le journaliste =E0 son bureau qui a =E9t=E9 perq= uisitionn=E9. Le m=EAme jour, Akram Didari, journaliste de Hayat-=E9-No, a=20= =E9t=E9 convoqu=E9 par le tribunal du clerg=E9.

Le 28 d=E9cembre 2002, Ali-Reza Jabari, traducteur et collaborateur de plusi= eurs journaux ind=E9pendants dont Adineh, a =E9t=E9 arr=EAt=E9 =E0 son burea= u par des personnes en civil. Le lendemain, son =E9pouse s'est rendue =E0 Ad= areh Amaken, une section de la police t=E9h=E9ranaise consid=E9r=E9e comme p= roche des services de renseignements, qui avait convoqu=E9 de nombreux journ= alistes durant les derni=E8res semaines. L=E0, on lui a r=E9pondu qu'aucune=20= personne du nom de Ali-Reza Jabari n'avait =E9t=E9 arr=EAt=E9e. M=EAme r=E9p= onse au commissariat de police. Le 25 d=E9cembre 2002, une interview de Ali-= Reza Jabari =E9tait paru dans Charvand, publication persophone bas=E9e au Ca= nada, dans laquelle il expliquait notamment que le Guide la R=E9publique isl= amique voulait que la crise d=E9g=E9n=E8re dans tout le pays. Sa femme, qui=20= est sans nouvelles de lui, est d'autant plus inqui=E8te que son =E9poux souf= fre de probl=E8mes cardiaques. Ali-Reza Jabari, membre de l'Association des=20= =E9crivains iraniens, est l'auteur de nombreuses traductions en anglais d'ou= vrages dont certains ont =E9t=E9 interdits.











--

Virginie Locussol (norddelafrique@rsf.org / northernafrica@rsf.org / iran@rs= f.org)
Bureau Nord de l'Afrique - Iran / Northern Africa - Iran desk

Reporters sans fronti=E8res / Reporters Without Borders
5, rue Geoffroy-Marie
75009 Paris - FRANCE
T=E9l. (33) 1 44 83 84 84
Fax. (33) 1 45 23 11 51

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