Transfer of a Critical Journalist to Evin for '40 Months' Imprisonment

Mostafa Naemati, an economic journalist, has been sent to prison to serve a 40-month sentence for writing several protest posts on X. Maryam Shokrani, a journalist and colleague of Mr. Naemati, wrote on X on Tuesday, November 15, that he 'is currently not in a good mental state.' Mohammad Taheri, a colleague and friend of Mostafa Naemati, also announced that this imprisoned journalist contacted him on the morning of Tuesday, November 15, saying, 'I became very worried about his mental condition.' Mr. Naemati was transferred to Evin Prison in Tehran a week ago, on Tuesday, November 7, to serve his 40-month prison sentence and is currently in section 8 of this prison. According to the Economic Journalists Club, Mostafa Naemati has been sentenced to imprisonment 'for writing several protest posts on X.' This journalist and economic analyst was previously arrested in early June of this year and spent three weeks in Evin Prison before being temporarily released on a bail of 7 billion tomans. Mostafa Naemati was summoned on September 18 by Branch 1 of the Criminal Enforcement Court of the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office of District 33 of Tehran to serve his sentence. According to the Human Rights Campaign in Iran, at least 34 journalists and media activists have been arrested by the Islamic Republic in Iran since the first half of this year. Hadi Ghaemi, the director of the Human Rights Campaign in Iran, has called on the international community to take 'clear and specific' action against the 'transnational repression of journalists' by the Islamic Republic. Behnam Darai-Zadeh, a journalist and senior researcher at this organization, states that in addition to the 'systematic and serious threats' from the Islamic Republic against journalists inside Iran, reports from intelligence agencies in Western countries, including the United States, Britain, and Canada, indicate that journalists and media activists abroad have also been under threat and pursuit by agents of the Islamic Republic, often without their knowledge. It is also noted that Iran is one of the 10 largest prisons in the world for journalists. Previously, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations expressed concern over the increase in violence and attacks against journalists worldwide in a statement on the occasion of the 'International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists' and called for accountability for the perpetrators of these crimes. The judiciary has announced that it is reviewing the 'pardon requests' of Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi. The U.S. has called for an 'end to the impunity of perpetrators of crimes against journalists.'