Arrest of a Journalist in Mahabad

Reporters Without Borders announced that Hassan Sheikh Aghaei, the director of the analytical news website "Ravangeh," was arrested on Wednesday, October 7, by plainclothes agents on the orders of the first branch of the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office in Mahabad. According to the report, the family and lawyers of this journalist have not yet been informed of the location and reason for his arrest. Meanwhile, some websites, including the website of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, reported that simultaneously with Sheikh Aghaei's arrest, another member of the editorial board of "Ravangeh," named Younes Ghorbani Far, was also arrested at his home and released after a few hours. Reports indicate that following these arrests, the activities of the "Ravangeh" website have been halted, and its editorial board announced that "the management of the site has been taken out of the hands of the site's managers for technical reasons, and they have no control over it." The "Ravangeh" website is a news and analytical platform focusing on issues in western Iran, publishing content in both Persian and Sorani Kurdish; its office is located in Mahabad. Mr. Sheikh Aghaei had previously been arrested in July 2009 after the events of that year's presidential election and was released after some time. The arrest of this journalist in Mahabad comes at a time when Khosrow and Masoud Kordpour were also arrested in this city in 2012. Khosrow Kordpour was sentenced to six and a half years in prison and two years of exile to Kerman, while Masoud Kordpour was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. Currently, several journalists in Iran, including Alireza Rajaei, Seraaj al-Din Mir Damadi, Saeed Razavi Faqih, and Jason Rezaian, are imprisoned. Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, previously stated during his trip to New York for the UN General Assembly that he does not believe anyone in Iran has been arrested for their journalistic activities. Fars News Agency has recently published reports against Jason Rezaian, and Javad Karimi Qodousi, a member of the Stability Front in Parliament, claimed that Mr. Rezaian was able to attend the "most private" meetings of Hassan Rouhani and had contact with someone in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Iranian nuclear negotiating team, and "Mr. Zarif's media team." Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian Foreign Minister, described Mr. Rezaian's accusations as "serious" and stated that "we are trying to resolve this issue from a humanitarian perspective." In this context, the Iranian Ministry of Interior announced the closure of the "Mahabad Incident" case and the issuance of prison sentences for the Kordpour brothers.