Tehran Prosecutor Claims Maximum Security for Journalists in Iran

While freedom of expression watchdogs, including Reporters Without Borders, describe Iran as one of the world's five largest prisons for journalists, Tehran's prosecutor has claimed that there is maximum security for journalists in Iran. Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the prosecutor of Tehran, stated on Tuesday, May 17, that the crimes of journalists currently detained in Iran are security-related and 'related to the internal and external security of the country.' In a meeting titled 'The Role of the Prosecutor's Office in Preserving the Rights of Defendants and Citizens,' Dolatabadi reacted to reports of journalist detentions in Iran, stating that 'if individuals in the field of journalism have been arrested according to Western claims, they have either acted against public crimes or have made statements against internal and external security.' The Mizan news agency, affiliated with the judiciary, also reported Dolatabadi's claim that 'we have the highest security for journalists within the country.' These statements come less than two weeks after over 200 Iranian journalists wrote a letter to President Hassan Rouhani, requesting attention to the situation of imprisoned journalists. In their letter, the journalists referred to the nearly 200 days since the detention of four journalists in Tehran, describing the security charges against them as 'pretexts' for their condemnation. Eisa Saharkhiz, Ehsan Mazandarani, Saman Safarzadeh, and Afrin Chitsaz are four journalists who have been detained since last November. According to Reporters Without Borders, Iran, with '34 imprisoned journalists and citizen journalists,' is one of the five largest prisons for media activists. China, Egypt, Turkey, and Eritrea are other countries with the highest number of imprisoned journalists. Iran also ranked 173rd in the 2015 World Press Freedom Index among 180 countries surveyed by Reporters Without Borders, and only moved up four places to 169th in 2016. However, the analysis by Reporters Without Borders indicated that this four-place improvement was not due to an improvement in freedom of expression in Iran, but rather due to the worsening situation in several other countries. In its 2016 report, the organization referred to Iran as one of the countries suppressing freedom of information, emphasizing that in Iran, media and journalists are 'victims of the power struggle at the top of the government hierarchy.' The report also stated that many imprisoned journalists are 'ill but deprived of their right to treatment.' It noted that since the beginning of Hassan Rouhani's administration, nearly 50 journalists and citizen journalists have been detained, with many sentenced to heavy prison terms, and that the responsibility for most of the arrests lies with the 'Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.'