Reporters Without Borders Statement; Condemnation of Arrests of Media Activists

Reporters Without Borders, on Wednesday, issued a statement once again calling the arrests of journalists and bloggers in Iran arbitrary and demanding their immediate and unconditional release. This freedom of expression advocacy group criticized the detention of three media activists in Iran: Arash Zad, Omid Soleimani, and Mehdi Bootarabi. Mehdi Bootarabi, the manager of the Persian Blog sites, was arrested on Saturday following a summons to the Evin Prosecutor's Office, but no information has been released regarding the reason for his arrest. Bootarabi was also arrested in 2009 and was convicted in an absentia trial. Persian Blog, the first free Persian blogging service, was launched in 2002 by three students and two years later, coinciding with the arrest of several bloggers, its managers sold the site to Mehdi Bootarabi. Omid Soleimani, a former colleague of the Noway-e Vaqt newspaper in Kermanshah, is another journalist that Reporters Without Borders reported as arrested on May 13, demanding his release. The charges and location of this journalist are also unknown. According to Reporters Without Borders, Arash Zad, the editor of the Blogina site, was arrested by the IRGC on September 1 of last year, but no news has been published regarding the reason for his arrest or his whereabouts. Reporters Without Borders states that Iran, with at least 30 imprisoned journalists and bloggers, is one of the five largest prisons in the world for media activists. In this context, Reza Moieni, the head of the Iran section at Reporters Without Borders, stated: 'Unfortunately, in recent months, the number of arrests in Iran has increased, but since last year, this number of arrests, especially with the detention of many of what we call bloggers and citizen journalists, those who strive for freedom of information or express their opinions freely, has continued and intensified. The highest number of these arrests has been made by the IRGC since Mr. Rouhani came to power, and these types of arrests are a power struggle occurring at the highest levels of the regime, and unfortunately, the media and journalists become its victims. Iran remains one of the five largest prisons in the world for journalists.' At the same time, the family members of Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand, a journalist from Kurdistan, say he has gone on a hunger strike in prison and his health condition is poor. The reason for Mr. Kabudvand's hunger strike, according to his family, is the fabrication of charges against him. This journalist was sentenced to ten and a half years in prison by the Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj for propaganda against the regime, founding the Kurdistan Human Rights Organization, and disturbing public opinion through publishing an article in the weekly Payam-e Mardom, and has been imprisoned for nine years. Parinaz Hasani, the wife of Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand, stated about her husband's condition: 'Mr. Kabudvand has been on a hunger strike since Sunday, May 8, and the reason is that before the holiday, the fabrication of charges against him began; he was summoned to the Evin Prosecutor's Office three times, and each time new charges were brought against him. Even the interrogator told him that the Ministry of Intelligence had asked us to exile Mr. Kabudvand to the farthest point in the south of the country.' Reporters Without Borders also called for medical attention to Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand's condition and his immediate release in their statement. However, besides Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand, some other political and ideological prisoners are also ill, and the prison conditions are not suitable for them. Omid Kokabi, an Iranian physicist, is one of these individuals. Amnesty International announced in a statement on Tuesday that Omid Kokabi requires special treatments and returning him to prison threatens his life. This human rights organization called for the immediate and unconditional release of Omid Kokabi. Omid Kokabi, a postdoctoral student in atomic physics at the University of Texas, has been imprisoned in Iran for five and a half years and has developed kidney cancer. He was hospitalized in early May and had his right kidney removed. Omid Kokabi was arrested in 2010 at Imam Khomeini Airport in Tehran and was sentenced to ten years in prison for alleged connections with an enemy state and acquiring illicit wealth.