Reporters Without Borders Criticizes 'Flagrant Violation of Press Freedom and Threats Against Journalists'

Reporters Without Borders criticized the arrest of Sasan Aghaei, the deputy editor of the Etemad newspaper. On Sunday, August 13, they wrote on their Twitter page that the arrest of this critical journalist is a 'flagrant violation of press freedom and a threat to all journalists.' According to reports, Sasan Aghaei was arrested on the evening of Saturday, August 12, at the office of the newspaper by order of the Culture and Media Prosecutor's Office. According to the Kaleme website, close to Mir Hossein Mousavi, security forces also took this journalist to his home after visiting the newspaper, searched his house, and then transferred him to Evin Prison. The reason for the arrest of this journalist has not yet been announced. Sasan Aghaei was also arrested after the protests against the results of the 2009 presidential election and was released after about four months. He was arrested again in the first week of Bahman 1391 along with 17 other journalists and was released after about a month. In recent months, more than 10 journalists have been arrested, and some of them, including Ehsan Mazandarani and Hengameh Shahidi, are still imprisoned. In Esfand 1395, 12 managers of Telegram channels close to reformists and the government were also arrested, some of whom were released after about three months and others after about six months. Mohammad Bagher Samimi, a journalist and union activist residing in Canada, stated in an interview with Radio Farda that 'journalism is the most unsupported profession in Iran' and added: 'Illegal arrests by various institutions have increasingly made journalism in Iran difficult, dangerous, and unsupported.' He further noted: 'The absence of a union, lack of progressive press laws that protect the rights of journalism and the press, job instability, interference from extralegal institutions in journalism, and lack of financial, economic, and social security support are among the problems of journalism in Iran.' Mr. Samimi also mentioned that 'the leaders and institutions of the Iranian government generally have no interest in press freedom and consider it detrimental to their governance and management.' In this context, Reporters Without Borders has stated that the Islamic Republic of Iran ranks 165th out of 180 countries in the organization's 2017 World Press Freedom Index. On August 3, this organization also urged Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, to fulfill the promises he made to the Iranian people during his second presidential term. Additionally, according to the website of the International Federation of Journalists, the global congress of this international body, held recently in Angers, France, from June 8 to 10, called for the release of imprisoned journalists in Iran based on a request from the representative of the Iranian Journalists' Association. Furthermore, prior to that, 29 members of the European Parliament had requested in a letter on May 12 that the Iranian authorities release journalists, political prisoners, and managers of Telegram channels.