Reporters Without Borders: 'Judicial Vendetta by Iranian Officials' Against Ahmad Zeidabadi Condemned

Reporters Without Borders has condemned what it calls the 'judicial vendetta by Iranian officials' against Ahmad Zeidabadi. Reza Moieni, head of the Iran and Afghanistan section of Reporters Without Borders, stated in a statement on Friday, May 21, that the restrictions and sentences issued against Ahmad Zeidabadi, a journalist, are 'inconsistent with Articles 12 and 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory.' He emphasized that 'Ahmad Zeidabadi should remain with his family and be able to freely resume his professional activities.' Ahmad Zeidabadi, a journalist and Secretary-General of the Islamic Graduates Organization, was arrested on June 14, 2009, two days after the disputed election results that led to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election. He was sentenced by Branch 15 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court to six years in prison, five years of exile to Gonabad, and a permanent ban on social and political activities. This member of the board of the Iranian Journalists Association was sent directly from Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj to Gonabad at his own expense on May 20, to serve his five-year exile in that city. Moieni condemned what he described as the 'repressive actions of the Iranian judiciary,' stating that 'the Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the most repressive countries in the world, which not only resorts to arbitrary arrests and convictions in unfair courts but also deprives Iranian citizens of their rights and condemns them to perpetual silence through supplementary punishments.' Ahmad Zeidabadi had previously faced threats, arrests, and imprisonment before his last arrest in June 2009, spending more than a year in prison in total during 2000, 2003, and 2008. This member of the board of the Iranian Journalists Association was sentenced to prison, exile, and social deprivation for writing an open letter to Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, in which he asked, 'On what religious, rational, legal, or customary grounds, and based on what public interest, is public questioning of the leadership or criticism of his statements and actions effectively prohibited in Iranian society?' Raising this question led to solitary confinement and pressure from intelligence agents in Ward 209 of Evin Prison, who attempted to force this journalist and political analyst to apologize to the leader of Iran. This Iranian journalist won the UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize known as 'Guillermo Cano' in 2011. Ahmad Zeidabadi also received the Golden Pen of Freedom award from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers in 2009.