THE WORLD’S FOURTH LARGEST JOURNALIST
DUNGEON: IRAN
The arrests of regime opponent journalists
continue in Iran. A short while ago a newspaper editor of
opponent reformist Etamade Malli newspaper which is
affiliated with Etamade Malli movement, Rasul Montakhabnia
was arrested in the beginning of first week of July 2008
because of his article against President Mahmoud
Ahmedinejad.
In his article, Montakhabnia criticized the
statements of the President about “Imam Mahdi” and described
the press statements of the President as “absurd” when the
President stated that the reason of the problems in the
country are due to the reduction of the belief of some
officials to Imam Mahdi. He expressed that they are trying
to conceal inflation, unemployment and the failures of the
government by bringing these kinds of religious issues on
the agenda at a time when the country suffers from heavy
socio-economic problems. In his article Montakhabnia
emphasized that the Shiite religious scholars in the city of
Qum should warn the President.
During the interrogation, he claimed that he
wrote the article to be published on his personal web site
and told that he had nothing to do with the fact that this
article was also published in the newspaper.
Censorship against the press in Iran has
risen enormously in the last 3 years. The Ahmadinejad
government, which exploits the Press Law, closes down the
opponent newspapers and magazines and also arrests the
journalists. It is claimed recently that many opponent
journalists were brought to the office of the Ministry of
Intelligence in the city of Qum and were put under
interrogation. They also confiscate the personal computers
of these journalists and violate their rights. At a time
when the propaganda activities are on the rise due to the
upcoming presidential elections, the pressure against the
press and the arrest of journalists will likely continue.
