Journalist Payam Fazli Nejad Released After 4 Hours of Detention and Interrogation at Tehran University

Payam Fazli Nejad, a writer and journalist and one of the few media observers present at Tehran University during the unrest in Iran, was detained by an operational team after leaving his office in Fatemi Square this evening (July 6, 2003) and was released after nearly four hours of interrogation at an unknown location. In his first official comment regarding his detention, he stated: 'The interrogation team asked questions about my media activities during the nights I was present at Tehran University, to which I explained that I am ready to defend my media performance and activities in any judicial and legal authority, but in this manner, I will not be prepared to defend anything.' He continued: 'From the very beginning, I told the gentlemen that there was no need for such an operational approach, and I am willing to answer their questions, but they said we are obliged to carry out our work.' Fazli Nejad concluded by saying: 'The gentlemen, at the moment of my release, said we have issued our legal warning to you. You are also obliged to observe legal limits. I would have been pleased if specific instances of violations of legal limits were mentioned, but they mostly confined themselves to generalities. Overall, it was explained that the government does not expect journalists to exacerbate certain crises and challenges in such conditions.' Fazli Nejad refrained from providing further details about his interrogation due to what he described as a reluctance to raise the issue more broadly.