Detention of Eisa Saharkhiz and Ehsan Mazandarani

Eisa Saharkhiz, a journalist, was arrested on Tuesday, November 2, by seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at his home in Tehran. Mehdi Saharkhiz, the journalist's son, announced this to Radio Farda, stating that his father was detained on charges of propaganda against the regime, insulting the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, and conspiracy to gather. According to Mehdi Saharkhiz, the agents searched his father's house and confiscated his belongings. Eisa Saharkhiz was the director of domestic press at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance during Mohammad Khatami's presidency. He was previously arrested in July 2009 and sentenced to three years in prison on security charges, which was increased to five years in 2011 while he was still in prison. This journalist was released in 2013. During his imprisonment, he was transferred to the hospital several times due to poor health. Eisa Saharkhiz is one of three Iranians who won the Hellman-Hammett Award for freedom of expression in 2012. According to a statement from Human Rights Watch, this award is given to those who have faced persecution by governments seeking to prevent the dissemination of information and expression of their views due to their commitment to freedom of expression. In recent years, Mr. Saharkhiz has written two separate letters to the UN Secretary-General requesting attention to the situation of political prisoners in Iran. On the same day, Sam Hosseini, a close relative of Ehsan Mazandarani, the editor-in-chief of the Farhikhtegan newspaper, confirmed in an interview with Radio Farda that Ehsan Mazandarani was also arrested at his home that day. Ehsan Mazandarani had previously been arrested on February 21, 2013, while working as a reporter for the Etemad newspaper and was transferred to Evin Prison. He has worked with newspapers such as Etemad, Shargh, Aftab Yazd, and Farhikhtegan. Conservative media at that time reported that Ehsan Mazandarani was arrested on charges of 'connections' with the BBC media network and 'anti-revolutionary news sites.' These media also stated that 'he, who is the executive secretary of one of the reformist newspapers, had lived in Malaysia for a while and had connections with anti-revolutionary Persian-language media there.'