Following the words of the head of Iran’s judiciary that “We cannot accept the mistreatment of any body, particularly students whom nobody wishes to torture,” a number of journalists were arrested yesterday, Emadedin Baghi was sentenced to three years imprisonment, Abdollah Momeni’s wife expressed her serious concerns about her incarcerated husband, etc.

In the new wave of arrest of journalists and media activists which is said to have begun with the orders of Saeed Mortezavi, first Farshad Ghorbanipour and then Masoud Bastani were arrested by the authorities. In this regard Ghorbanipour’s wife is reported to have said, “Plain clothes agents forced their way into my house without my permission while showing me some paper. The piece of paper said that the individuals carrying it were authorized to enter the premises and arrest Farshad to “Uncover outlawed items.”

Ms Ghorbanipour also said, “On the paper that they showed me, there was a reference to Evin prison’s ward 209. As the agents were leaving the house, they took with themselves personal belongings to Farshad, such as books, CDs, telephone books, newspaper and handwritten notes.”

Ghoranipour has worked in Etemad Melli, Ham-Mihan, which was recently shut down by the government, Shargh, Shahrvand’e Emrouz weekly and Rooz. Some observers have speculated that he was arrested because he covered all student affairs and developments related to student movements, including those in the Daftar’e Tahkim Vahdat and Sazmane Advar Tahkim student groups. They believe his arrest is not unrelated to the arrest of the leaders of the Advar and Tahkim student groups. During Ghorbanipour’s house search by agents, his 5 year old son, Arman, was seriously disturbed because of the behavior of the agents and cried continuously, while the agents completely ignored his condition.

The second arrest 2 days ago was of Masoud Bastani who had been released from prison just a few months ago. He was released the same day but has to report to the prosecutor’s office yesterday.

Soheil Asefi, another colleague of Rooz, is the third person detained this week. Agents from the prosecutor’s office raided the house of this young journalist and began searching his house after showing their search warrants. They confiscated Soheil’s computer, work equipment, telephone diaries, magazine archives, tapes, personal letters, passport and other personal belongings. This raid and what they took was similar to what had happened in the searches of Ghorbanipour and Bastani’s houses.

While some agents were searching Ghorbanipour’s house, others were filming the whole episode. They asked him questions regarding his work with Rooz, and asked him to go to the prosecutor’s office later today.

In a related development, journalist and head of Iran’s Society for the defense or prisoner’s rights Emadedin Baghi, received a court sentence two days ago. The court judgment also included sentences for his wife and daughter. Baghi’s defense attorney Mahmoud Elm said in this connection, “The Revolutionary court sentenced Baghi to 2 years imprisonment for engaging in a conspiracy to engage in anti-security activities, to another year for spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic.” The attorney added that his client had been sentenced because he had given media interview, written letters and also talked about sentenced prisoners and executed individuals in Ahvaz. He also said that in addition to Baghi, his wife and daughter too were also sentenced to 3 years imprisonment on charges of acting against state security, while also receiving a 5 year suspended sentence for traveling to the United Arab Emirates and participating in a human rights conference that had been organized by the United Nations.

Another prisoner Abbas Momeni who is the spokesperson for the Danesh-Amukhtegan student organization made a telephone call to his house. His wife said in this regard, “It was very clear that he was under pressure so that his voice could hardly be heard while his talk centered on her health and that of his children, while also refereeing to being held in solitary confinement. “My husband is under pressure in ward 209 of Evin prison and I am concerned about his conditions and health. He suffers from metabolic and cardiac illnesses, and the pressures on him worsen his conditions,” she said.

In another imprisonment case, Parviz Khorshid, the defense attorney for Mansur Osanloo, the head of Iran’s Vahed Bus Company workers syndicate who was kidnapped a few weeks ago and is now in prison, told the press that the status of his client remains in limbo. He clarified this by adding that it sis not clear what specific charges his client is accused of because the authorities have not communicated this to them. According to Khorshid, the prisoner remains barred from having family visits. The attorney also said that the only that is clear about his client’s case is that he is being held on security grounds, while its details have not been made clear.

It is in this light that Iranian webloggers have written about assistance to students who were arrested on the 101 anniversary of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution at the turn of the 19th century. Advar news posted a statement issued on the occasion in which it said, “!01 years ago the first steps were taken by the Iranian nation to attain freedom and justice which grew into the constitutional movement.” It continued, “Now over a 100 years alter, students and other freedom loving individuals who are struggling for the same are being driven to prison.” Students have always played a leading role in social and political movements in Iran.

For the occasion of the Constitutional anniversary, Iranian webloggers had decided to jointly announce the day as the “Weblogers day of solidarity with students”, through which they changed the name of their blogs to the solidary name.

These events take place in a background to the words of the spokesperson of the judiciary, Jamshidi, who said that the judiciary respected the citizen rights of people while not accepting that a person be subjected to painful measures, particularly the torture of students. “We cannot accept torture even in cases that involve rape,” Jamshidi claimed. He also denied that Mahmoud Salehi was ill, while confirming the death sentence of Adnan Hassan pour and Hiva Bootimar on grounds on charges of being rebellious. On Bosanko, Ali Farahbakhsh, Mahmoud Salehi, and Amir Yaghubali, the official said that nothing had changed in their cases.