Iran Ranked as the 'Third' Largest Prison for Journalists in the World

In its annual report released in the last two weeks of the current year, Reporters Without Borders states that attacks on journalists around the world have become 'more brutal,' kidnappings have 'increased,' and 66 journalists lost their lives this year. The report identifies Iran as the third 'largest prison for journalists' in the world. Therefore, we approached Reza Moieni, head of the Iran and Afghanistan section at Reporters Without Borders based in Paris, to ask how the statistics and information in the report are compiled and documented. Since 1995, an annual report on the state of press freedom and the status of journalists and media personnel worldwide has been published by Reporters Without Borders. The organization's statistics and reports are based on information and data from official institutions and agencies of each country, as well as information obtained by Reporters Without Borders itself. The situation in Iran in the 2014 statistical report was concerning, with the country ranking high in terms of the number of imprisoned journalists. Please explain how this data was obtained. Iran has consistently been one of the prisons for journalists in the Middle East and the world since 2000, but unfortunately, since 2009, Iran has maintained the record of being one of the largest prisons for media personnel. Currently, Iran has 19 journalists and over 32 bloggers imprisoned, making it one of the top five prisons in the world for media personnel and specifically the third largest prison for journalists. Recently, Reporters Without Borders released a report on the latest status of Jason Rezaian, an Iranian-American journalist for The Washington Post. What is the latest news about him? Mr. Rezaian has been illegally and arbitrarily detained; he was arrested by the Revolutionary Guard, and even in the initial weeks and months of his detention, his name was not recorded in any prison registries, similar to other cases we refer to as enforced disappearances or arbitrary detentions aimed at disappearance. According to our latest information, he has been pressured to confess and this has occurred under the silence of the international community, including the United States. Jason Rezaian, who is a journalist and has committed no crime, is a victim of the security-oriented and enemy-perceiving perspective of the Islamic Republic's officials. Furthermore, he is used as a tool in diplomatic discussions between the Islamic Republic and the international community, similar to other cases. Therefore, the 2014 statistical report indicates that kidnapping, imprisoning, and even killing journalists for instrumental use has unfortunately increased this year.