Javanfekr Sentenced to '91 Days in Prison'

Five years after the incident involving a clash between Tehran's prosecutor's office and several employees of the Iran newspaper, which occurred following attempts by officials to arrest Ali Akbar Javanfekr, the managing director of IRNA news agency, he and three journalists from the Iran newspaper were sentenced to three months in prison. Javanfekr's defense attorney, Gahraman Shojaei, announced on Sunday, June 30, that his client was sentenced to 91 days of punitive imprisonment for 'disobedience against judicial agents.' According to ISNA news agency, Shojaei stated that this ruling will be officially communicated 'in the next couple of days' and 'we will definitely appeal it.' Meanwhile, the 'Dolat Bahar' website, which is close to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, reported that besides Ali Akbar Javanfekr, three journalists from the Iran newspaper named Abdolreza Soltani, Saeed Youssefipour, and Hassan Ghasemi were also sentenced to 91 days of punitive imprisonment each. In 2011, officials from the Tehran prosecutor's office attempted to arrest Ali Akbar Javanfekr, the managing director of IRNA and head of the Iran press institute, in the Iran newspaper building, which led to a clash as some employees resisted the arrest. Reports indicated that during this clash, officials used 'tear gas,' resulting in one injury. Additionally, more than 30 employees of the Iran newspaper were briefly detained during this incident. The prosecutor's office intended to arrest Javanfekr to enforce a one-year prison sentence he received for publishing certain articles and images 'against public morality' in the special issue 'Khatoun' of the Iran newspaper. Javanfekr was ultimately arrested on October 5, 2012, while Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was in New York attending the UN General Assembly. Upon returning from this trip, Ahmadinejad criticized Javanfekr's arrest and raised the issue of visiting Evin prison, which was met with opposition from judicial authorities.