List of 101 journalists jailed in Iran

Source: Enduring America blog, posted by Scott Lucas.

The following list has been compiled by EA's German Bureau. It does not include the staff of Kalemeh, who were imprisoned last summer (most were subsequently released). Some of the journlists named in this list may have been freed on bail.


1. Adnan Hassanpour, Aso
Arrested: 25 January 2007

2. Mohammad Seddigh Kaboudvand, Payam-e Mardom
Arrested on: 1 July 2007

3. Mojtaba Lotfi, a freelance journalist
Arrested: 8 October 2008

4. Hossein Derakhshan, a freelance journalist, Blogger
Arrested: November 2008

5. Nader Karimi Jooni, Jahan-e-Sanat, Sharq, Gozaresh, Fekr and Siasat-e-Rooz
Arrested in: December 2008

6 Ahmad Zaid-Abadi, a freelance journalist
Arrested on: June 2009

7. Omid Salimi, Jahan e Jehan
Arrested: 14 June 2009

8. Kayvan Samimi, Nameh
Arrested: 14 June 2009
Bail: 16 March 2010
Return to prison: 20 March 2010

9. Saeed Laylaz, Sarmayeh
Arrested: 17 June 2009

10. Bahman Ahmadi Amoui, freelance journalist
Arrested: 19 June 2009
Sentence: 5 years imprisonment confirmed

11. Isa Saharkhiz, freelance journalist
Arrested: 3 July 2009

12. Massoud Bastani, Farhikhtegan Jomhoriyat
Arrested: 5 July 2009

13. Marjan Abdollahian, Hamshahri
Arrested: 9 July 2009

14. Saeed Matin-Pour, Yar Pag Mouj Bidari
Arrested: 12 July 2009

15. Reza Nourbakhsh, Farhikhtegan
Arrested: 4 August 2009

16. Mohammad Hossein Sohrabi Rad, Saham News
Arrested: September 2009

17. Mohammad Davari, Saham News
Arrested: 5 September 2009

18. Javad Mahzadeh, freelance journalist
Arrested: 22 October 2009

19th Mazdak Ali Nazari, Nasim Haraz Monthly and Journalism for Peace
Arrested: November 2009

20. Sassan Aghaee, freelance journalist
Arrested: 22 November 2009
Bail: 28 March 2010

21. Saeed Jalalifar, Committee of Human Rights Reporter
Arrested: 2 December 2009

22. Kouhyar Goudarzi, Committee of Human Rights Reporters
Arrested: 20 December 2009

23. Shiva Nazar Ahari, Committee of Human Rights Reporters
Arrested: 20 December 2009

24. Mohammad Nourizad, freelance journalist, Keyhan
Arrested: 20 December 2009
Sentence: 3 1/2 years imprisonment and 50 lashes

25. Emaduddin Baghi, a freelance journalist
Arrested: 23 December 2009

26 Alireza Beheshti Shirazi, Kalameh Sabz
Arrested: 23 December 2009

27. Arvin Sedaghat Kish, Farhang va Ahang
Arrested: 27 December 2009

28. Khalil Darmanki, Asr Azadegan, Shargh, Etemad-e Melli
Arrested: 27 December 2009

29. Mostafa Izadi, Etemad-e Melli
Arrested: 28 December 2009

30. Badressadat Mofidi, Iranian Journalists Association
Arrested: 29 December 2009

31. Omid Montazeri, freelance journalist
Arrested: 30 December 2009

32. Rouzbeh Karimi, Kargozaran
Arrested: 2 January 2010

33. Yadollah Eslami, Jonbesh-e-Rah-e-Sabz
Arrested: 4 January 2010

34. Mostafa Dehghan, freelance journalist
Arrested: 8 January 2010

35. Mehraneh Atashi, freelance photojournalist, artist
Arrested: 11 January 2010

36. Lili Farhadpour, freelance journalist
Arrested: 21 January 2010
Released: 13 March 2010

37. Nilofar Laripour, Chelcheragh
Arrested: 1 February 2010

38. Ali Mohammad Eslampour, publisher Návay Vaght, Kermanshah
Arrest: 3 February 2010

39. Jamileh Darolshafaie, Etemaad
Arrested: 5 February 2010

40. Na’imeh Doostdar, Jaam-e Jam, Hamshahri
Arrested: 6 February 2010

41. Hamid Mafi, Farhang-e Ashti, Etemad-e Melli, Kargozaran
Arrested: 9 February 2010

42. Mohammad Ghaznavian, freelance journalist, human rights activist
Arrested: 9 February 2010

43. Fouad Sadeghi, chief editor of online magazine Ayande News
Arrested: 10 February 2010

44. Hengameh Shahidi, journalist and women’s rights activist
Re-arrested: 25 February 2010

45. Naghi Ahmadi Azar, five years imprisonment for “espionage against Armenia”

46. Ali Anjam-Rouz, in Gilan
Arrest date unknown

47. Behzad Mehrani, journalist, blogger and human rights activist
Arrested: 3 March 2010
Bail: 16 April 2010

48. Nasour Naghipour, Blogger, Khuzestan
Arrested: 2 March 2010

49. Abolfazl Abedini Nasr, weekly newspaper, Bahar Ahvaz
Arrested: 3 March 2010

50. Houtan Abolfathi, freelance journalist
Arrested: 15 February 2010

51. Ali Moazzami, Shargh
Arrested: 8 March 2010

52. Sadegh Javadi-Hessar, Toos
Arrested: December 2009 (Mashhad)

53. Kambiz Nouruzi, Head of Association of Iranian Journalists
Arrested: 28 June 2009
Sentenced to 1 year imprisonment

54. Mehdi Khazali, no data
Arrested: 29 June 2009

55. Satyar Emami, no data
Arrested: 11 July 2009

56. Reza Rafiee Foroshani, freelance journalist
Arrested: 26 June 2009
Sentenced: 5 years in prison for “espionage”

57. Pirhasanlou Ali, journalist and blogger “Alpar”
Arrested: 18 September 2009

58. Alireza Rajai, no data
Arrested: no further information

59. Amanollah Shojaie, reporters and bloggers, Bushehr
Arrested: no further information

60. Behzad Bashou, journalist and cartoonist
Arrested on: no further information

61. Esmail-Haqq parasternal, Farhikhtegan
Arrested on: no further information

62. Farhad Sharfai, in Khorramabad
Arrested: no further information

63. Fariborz Soroush, freelance journalist in Karaj
Arrested on: no further information

64. Farshad Azizi, Atrak, Mashhad
Arrested: no further information

65. Fereydoun Amozadeh, publisher Chelcheragh
Arrested: no further information

66. Massoud Lavasani Saeed, journalist and blogger
Arrested: 26 September 2009
Sentenced: six years imprisonment, prohibited from journalism for 10 years

67. Ehsan Mehrabi, Farhikhtegan
Arrested: Unknown

68. Babak Bordbar, 25, photojournalist Aks-e Fars, Shiraz
Arrest: 26 December 2009

69. Mohammad Pour Abdollah, freelance journalist
Arrest: 13 February 2010

70. Morteza Moradpour, Yazligh
Arrested: 22 May 2009

71. Hamzeh Karami, Website Jomhooriyat
Arrested: 19 June 2009

72. Zeynab Kazemkhah, ISNA
Arrested: 7 February 2010

73. Ali Malihi, Etemaad, Irandokht, Shahrvand-e Emruz and Mehrnameh
Arrested: 9 February 2010

74. Mojtaba Gahestooni, freelance journalist
Arrested: 5 March 2010

75. Sousan Mohammadkhani Ghiasvand, blogger, Kurdistan
Arrested: 11 March 2010

76. Morteza Kazemian, Jonbesh-e Rah-e Sabz
Arrested: 29 December 2009

77. Nooshin Jafari, Etemaad
Arrest: 3 February 2010

78. Naeemeh Doostdar, Jam-e Jam
Arrested: 6 February 2010

79. Somayeh Momeni, Nasim-e Bidari
Arrested: 7 February 2010

80. Rahim Gholami, freelance journalist, Ardebil
Arrested: 11 April 2008
Sentenced: one year in prison, 28 October 2009

81. Hassan Maadikhah
Arrested: No information

82. Khalil Mir Ashrafi, journalist, TV producer
Arrested: No information

83. Kayvan Farzin, Farhang-e ahang
Arrested: No information

84. Kourosh Javan, photojournalist
Arrested: No information

85. Mansoureh Shojai, freelance journalist, feminist websites
Arrested: No information

86. Mashallah Heidarzadeh, journalist from Bushehr
Arrested: No information

87. Mehdi Gilani, Atrak, Mashhad
Arrested: No information

88. Mehdi Hosseinzadeh:
Arrested: No information

89. Mehdi Yazdani Khorram, Etemad-e Melli, Shargh, Hammihan, Kargozaran
Arrested: December 2009

91. Mehrdad Rahimi, freelance journalist and blogger
Arrested: No information

91. Mirhamid Hassanzadeh, editor of Ghalam News Website
Arrested: No information

92. Mohammad Javad Saberi
Arrested: No information

93. Mohammadreza Yazdanpanah, Shargh, Kargozaran, Hammihan andFarhikhtegan
Arrest: No information

94. Hassan Assadi Zeydabadi, blogger, student, human rights activist
Arrested: No information

95. Mohammadreza Zohdi, publisher, Arya
Arrest: No information

96. Rouhollah Shahsavar, in Mashhad
Arrested: No information

97. Rokhsareh Ghaem-Magham, journalist and documentary filmmaker
Arrested: No information

98. Saeed Allah-Behdashti
Arrested: No information

99. Saeed Movahedi, photojournalist
Arrested No information

100. Sayed Amar Kalantari, Ayandeh Website
Arrested: No information

101. Tahereh Riahi, editor of Jahan-e Eghtesad
Arrested: No information

It's been 2 hours since I was released...

On the 22 of Bahman I will be there again!

Source and English translation: Negar Irani/Facebook

Scroll down for original Farsi text posted by Mani Irani


It's been 2 hours since I was release..... On the 22 of Bahman I will be there again!

Oh freedom, what a blessing.... Oh freedom, what a blessing....

Dear friends,

The truth is I don't have much strength to write...so I'll say just a few points

1) Don't send information to each other via SMS (text messaging), because if god forbid they arrest you they will print them all out in jail and put them in front of you.

2) Don't use your cell phones to discuss last minute details regarding the 22nd of Bahman.

3) They were aware of all the places I had been using a BST antenna. So please be careful. I was not aware that they record this information and they showed it to me.

4) The pictures are very high quality. Make sure you wear sun glasses and cover your face completely with both a mask and a shawl.

My dear Green friends, I am now even more convince that one must fight and that there is a price to pay for freedom and liberty. On the 22nd of Bahman we will be countless together. I am grateful to all my friends who were worried about me during this time.

Kaveh is alive.... his flag was raised.

Kaveh Ahangar

********************************************


دو ساعته آزاد شدم … ۲۲ بهمن باز هم هستم


آه که آزادی چه نعمتیست …. آه که آزادی چه نعمتیست … اه که آزادی چه نعمتیست

دوستان راستش نای زیادی برای نوشتن ندارم … تنها چند نکته :

1 – اطلاعاتتان را با اس ام اس ای رد و بدل نکنید که اگر خدای ناکرده گیر بیافتید در زندان همه را پیرینت گرفته و ترو تمیز میگذارند جلوی رویتان

2 – تماسهای شب قبل و صبح روز 22 بهمن را که میخواهید با هم قرار بزارید رو از موبایلتون نگیرید …

3- مواظب باشید در زندان پرینت BST به من نشون دادند … یعنی تمام جاهائی که رفته بودم رو از روی آنتنی که تو محدودش بودم . من نمیدونستم این اطلاعات ثبت میشه .

4- عکسهاشون خیلی با کیفیته … حتما عینک افتابی بزنین و با ماسک یا شال صورتتون رو بپوشونین .. فقط به ماسک بسنده نکنین ….

دوستان سبز … تنها راسختر شدم که در راه آزادی و آزادگی باید جنگید و بها داد … 22 بهمن همه با هم بیشماران دیگری را رقم خواهیم زد

از تمام دوستانی که این مدت نگرانم شده بودند ممنونم

کاوه زنده است .. درفش برافراشته شد

کاوه آهنگر


Source and English translation: Negar Irani/Facebook

Raped and beaten

for daring to question President Ahmadinejad’s election

From Times online, September 11

Times online has published several accounts of rape and torture in Iran prisons since the election protests and the following arrests began in mid June.

In this editorial Martin Fletcher and a special correspondent in Tehran tells the story of Ardeshir (not his real name), a young engineering student, who […] “was locked up, beaten and raped multiple times for daring to protest against President Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election.”

A psychologist said that the young man “has extreme feelings of self-hatred resulting from a sense that he will never be clean again, and from shame over the repeated rapes.”

“A hospital report confirms he suffered anal damage.” […]

Ardeshir “was no political activist but took to the streets on June 20 to protest at the election. He and his friends were attacked by Basij, the Islamic volunteer militia, and separated.

As the violence increased [he] headed to a metro station but was seized by plain-clothed police and thrown into a windowless van containing 14 other bruised and bloodied demonstrators.

They were driven to an apartment building 90 minutes away that was clearly an unofficial detention centre. Ardeshir believes that 60 to 70 detainees were held there.

The new arrivals were ordered to strip to their underwear and stand in lines. Two Basiji “rubbed our genital areas with their batons, calling us ‘scum’ and saying ‘Ah, yes, the balls of the foot soldiers of the heretic Mousavi’,” Ardeshir recalled. “They then promised that we would confess to trying to overthrow the divine regime.”

The next day two Basiji took a 17-year-old schoolboy from the cell that Ardeshir was in. “Ten minutes later we heard him screaming and crying. It then went suddenly silent,” Ardeshir said.

“A couple of minutes later two Basiji grabbed me ... I felt faint and wanted to cry when faced with a scene I had never before in my life imagined ... The boy, completely naked, was seemingly unconscious on the mat, his face in a pile of vomit and with blood around his rectum.

“A Basiji called Mahmoud said, ‘Take a good look. That will happen to you if you resist, you faggot lover of Mousavi’.

“The Basiji then said: ‘Now you.’ “They threw me on my back on the ground. Mahmoud then urinated on my face, saying that this would teach me not to oppose the divine wishes of the Great Leader of the Revolution. ‘We have been sent to re-educate you, you spoilt Western piece of shit,’ he said.

“They took off my underwear and made me go around on all fours. Then Mahmoud said it was time for my punishment. I was still on all fours when he began to rape me. As he penetrated me I cried out and felt as if I would throw up. He told me that if I didn’t stop screaming he would stick his baton up me.

“When he was done, another Basiji came up and raped me. At this point I felt that I was not me. I seemed to have shut down and separated from my body. All I could think of was when it was going to end, and why these people who claim to be the most religious in our society can do such things?”

Every other day Basiji would choose detainees from the cell to rape. “The third time they dragged me from the cell, I momentarily escaped their grip and ran to a corner. I screamed, ‘You say you are Muslim. How can you rape and humiliate us in this way?’. They laughed and said they had religious sanction from the Leader [Ayatollah Khamenei] to do so because we had gone against his word.

“Three guys then dragged me from the corner. I was shoved against the wall, face first. Two guys spread my legs and once again I was raped by them. I just cried and prayed for God to take my life. After the third man finished Mahmoud said, ‘This is for insubordination. I warned you. I then felt a large object shoved up my rectum. I think I lost consciousness because the next thing I knew I was back in the cell. […]

“They also liked to take several of us out at the same time and forced us to ride each other, doggy-style, whilst naked. They laughed and took pictures with their mobile phones. They would watch this for ten minutes and then proceed to rape.” […]

After being beaten and raped again by two Basiji Ardeshir finally signed the “confession” which said that opposition leaders and the foreign media had encouraged him to engage in anti-regime activities, and was released.

“He’s a broken boy,” his father told The Times. “I just pray that we can put him back together, although I know he will never be the same gregarious, optimistic, sensitive boy we brought up. How could this so-called Islamic regime do this?”

Minou

Another story about rape and torture (English subtitles)

We will rape your son!

Today Human Rights Activists in Iran

- published a text version of an interview with a detainee.

He was arrested by plain clothes forces and special guards officers on his way home from work and brought to Meghdad Basij Station together with his friend. Less than 24 hours later, they were hand cuffed and blindfolded and taken to Kahrizak prison, and locked up in an underground container.

Two hours later the interrogations started. He was not allowed a lawyer and was not told what he was charged with, but they wanted him to confess to his participation in the protests. He spent more than 58 days in the underground container - along with 75 other people.

Read his story about the interrogations, the hygienic and food conditions, and the physical and psychological torture he endured during his detension.

And: Has Kahrizak prison really been closed?

Cold numbers

On July 21 the blog Revolutionary Road

- published a list with names of persons killed, arrested and
released since the recent Iran election protests. The list is long, and the numbers are chilling:

Killed by government forces			84
Arrestes university students			169
Arrested university professors			13
Arrested journalists			43
Politicians and members of reformist presidential candidates’ campaigns			136
Arrested and released			90
Human rights, student and women’s rights activists			20
Missing people			8
Recently arrested			443
Arrested and released army officers			24

According to the comments, the list is not complete. There are still many people unaccounted for.

VOA interview with Babak Daad

Babak Daad on torture and rape in Iranian prisons (farsi)

For an English translation visit the blog For a democratic secular Iran. The blogger, Azarmehr, gives this short introduction to the interview:

"Babak Daad, is an Iranian journalist and blogger who is now on the run and in hiding. Here is what he says in his shocking interview about what is going on in Iran's prisons and how the lackeys of the coup d'etat are ordered to break down the youth of Iran."

English translation and reader comments in Azarmehr’s blogpost Fath-ol-mobin, Codename for Rape Operations in Iran's Prisons

Torture in Evin Prison - a personal story

- by @iranproxy on #iranelection August 16

• friend who was in Evin prison yrs ago told me they used fake execution on him 7 times to break him
• they would take him out, tell him at night he would die in the morning and then prepare the execution
• the last few times they did fake execution he said just kill me, i cannot live like this
• for fake execution he said they do it like real execution, even show him other ppl who were executed
• he showed me the scar where guards cut him open for fun to see what was inside him
• he said what is done to women in Evin is too much to say
• he said some women would ask to be killed after first day
• my friend said they would do the same rapes to men they do now, bottles, other objects
• he said that they tortured him so much one time that he was beginning to die
• so the guards called his family and ask them to pay to save his life
• he show me scars and holes on his body and ask how can we negotiate with ppl who do this to ppl?
• he told me the guards would make fun of him as they tortured him and cut him
• the torturers said he could speak english, was educated, had a future and could go anywhere
• and said with all that education and knowledge look where he was now? being tortured by the uneducated
• that his education and knowledge was worthless, that this was his punishment for being educated
• they said he could go anywhere in world because he was educated and could speak english
• they said they were uneducated & could speak only farsi & couldn't go anywhere, no options in life
• and so they would stay until the end, they would kill anyone because they had no options in life
• that they would fight forever because their back was against the wall in life because of no options
• he said as they torture him they said they hated the educated people because they had hope in life
• he said they killed his cousins and brother in prison from torture and from execution
• my friend said they force prisoners to vote in prison, those who didn't vote were killed or tortured
• he said the worst was hearing women scream, they would beg to die
• then he tell me how he got out of prison, one day they had cut him open too much for fun
• he showed me the scar, it was biggest i have ever seen in my life
• even the scar looked like it was evil, that is how much it hurt me to see it
• he said he passed out that he does not know what they did when his body was open
• that doctor told him he had basically died and then his body released to doctor
• but they called the family to tell them to pay to save his life
• this doctor was a hero, knew him and helped him get out
• he could not say more, it was too much for him
• i can see in his eyes the pain when he talks about it, the shame he still carries for his whole life
• i can see in his eyes the pain when he talks about it, the shame he still carries for his whole life
• he said to me the torture that happens to political prisoners is much worse than what happened to him
• if you saw him, you would never know this happened. heroes are everywhere in our lives
• he told me the guards felt hopeless and jealous and were encouraged to blame ppl for their situation
• my friend escape from Iran after worst torture where they said he died, now he wants to go back
• he wants to go back to fight so other ppl do not suffer what he did, he said world cannot abandon these ppl

Father and Son

Mehdi Saharkhiz - @onlymehdi - confesses for his father Isa Saharkhiz who is still imprisoned in Iran

Breaking Down the Youth of Iran

Fath-ol-mobin, Codename for Rape Operations in Iran's Prisons
From the blog For a democratic secular Iran

From a shocking interview with Babak Daad about what is going on in Iran's prisons and how the lackeys of the coup d'etat are ordered to break down the youth of Iran:

"I saw an 18 year old boy, whose father described him as a piece of flesh with no soul […]

What they were doing at Kahrizak, was they would choose the spirited detainees who were resisting them and by raping them they wanted to break them from pursuing justice and freedom, they wanted to break them so bad that these youngsters would become depressed and even hate themselves. […]

A young 18 year old boy purely because he took part in the peaceful silent march on 15th June and wore a green wrist band is attacked, arrested and suffers two weeks of ongoing sexual rape in Kahrizak and is then taken to another prison where he is allowed to slightly recover before he is handed back to his father, I am sorry I have to mention these things but its no longer appropriate to remain silent, he suffers severe rectal and colon laceration, his infection was so bad that they couldn't keep him any longer, this 18 year old was also forced to witness other detainees being raped, he could hear a law enforcement officer, [whom we can identify and hopefully one day bring him to trial] shout 'take these lot and make them pregnant, so they know whats what' […]"

Read full blog post

A Woman's account of rape in prison

Reza Alamehzadeh interviews first victim of rape in prisons of Islamic regime of Iran. Farsi with English subtitle.

Part 1



Part 2

Karroubi’s letter to Rafsanjani on abuse of detainees

- written July 31, 2009 (but released 10 days later)

Translation at enduringamerica.com, posted August 10:

Excerpts:

[…] Some have been illegally and inappropriately arrested. Others have been subject to beatings. Some have been injured and murdered. People’s residences as well as dormitories have been raided and turned into a bloodbath. Even women have been subject to savage and horrendous abuses on the street. These events should be investigated. But certain other horrific acts have been committed that if not for accounts from different sources in recent days, I or yourself would have had a hard time believing them.

Severe and brutal beatings have been reported such that after 40 days the victims are still not in stable condition.

Detainees have been subject to humiliating badmouthing, and cursing. This also occurred for people who attended your Friday prayer. This sort of behavior is not acceptable in our religious and Islamic culture as all parties and groups have stressed. This shows that people who have been hired to commit these acts are not familiar with the most basic principle of our religion. […]

But I have heard something else that even still, thinking of it makes me shiver. I have not been able to sleep the last two days since I heard this. […]

[…] something horrific has happened in the prisons. If only one case is true, it is a catastrophe for the Islamic Republic of Iran which has turned the bright, shining history of Shia clerics into an atrocious, shameful fate and has outdone many dictatorial regimes, including that of the tyrannical Shah. […]

[…] right now, in society, this issue is being widely discussed by people who were arrested and by different media and websites. It is unclear what future generations will think of these events when they continuously become exaggerated. They will hold the Islamic Republic and clerical ranks also responsible. […]

Mr. Hashemi, this is what I have been informed about:

Some of the detainees have reported that certain individuals have so severely raped some of the girls in custody that the attacks have caused excruciating damage and injury to their reproductive organs. At the same time, they report that others have raped the young boys so violently that upon their release, they have had to endure great physical and mental pain and have been lying in a corner of their homes since. […]

Complete text of the letter