Soheil Arabi Wins Reporters Without Borders Information Freedom Prize

Reporters Without Borders announced that the 2017 Information Freedom Prize will be awarded to Soheil Arabi, an imprisoned Iranian photographer and blogger. The organization stated on Tuesday (November 7) that it will present its 'citizen journalist' award to Mr. Arabi. The 26th Reporters Without Borders award ceremony for defending information freedom is being held concurrently with a global democracy summit in Strasbourg. Soheil Arabi, from Tehran, was sentenced to death in September 2014 by Branch 76 of the Tehran Criminal Court on charges of 'insulting the Prophet and disrespecting sacred beliefs,' a ruling that was confirmed by the Supreme Court in December of that year. However, ultimately, Branch 34 of the Supreme Court of Iran overturned Soheil Arabi's death sentence in July 2015 and accepted his request for retrial. In the retrial, the charge of 'insulting the Prophet' was removed, and Mr. Arabi was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison and a two-year travel ban after his release. Arabi was arrested in November 2013 by agents of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and transferred to Evin Prison on charges of propaganda against the regime, insulting sacred beliefs, and officials of the regime and the IRGC. According to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Soheil Arabi had 'eight Facebook pages under different names,' and due to his writings on those pages, he was accused of 'insulting the Prophet and disrespecting sacred beliefs.' According to Article 262 of the Islamic Penal Code, anyone who 'insults' the Prophet of Muslims, Shiite Imams, or other prophets is considered to have committed 'insulting the Prophet' and is sentenced to death. However, according to Article 263 of this law, if the accused claims that their statements were made under coercion, negligence, inadvertence, while drunk or angry, and without regard to the meanings of words or quoting another, it does not count as 'insulting the Prophet.' Mr. Arabi is currently in Evin Prison and has gone on hunger strikes several times since last August. In October of this year, Amnesty International expressed concern about Soheil Arabi's situation due to his hunger strike and called for his 'immediate and unconditional' release and access to 'full medical care.' Following this, Soheil Arabi's mother stated in a voice message on social media that she intends to go to the Islamic Consultative Assembly and ask the legislative officials why the ruling of the Supreme Leader's pardon for her imprisoned son has not been implemented. Farangis Mazloom, in an interview with Radio Farda, added that since the judiciary is 'not accountable,' she wants to raise this question with the legislative officials in Parliament about why her son has not been released despite the Supreme Leader's pardon and remains imprisoned. In this context, 'the closure of Ward 350 of Evin Prison and the transfer of prisoners due to the publication of two photos' is also relevant.