Shahram Rafiizadeh

On the eve of World Press Freedom Day (May 3, 2008) Iran’s only national journalists’ ‎union, Association of Iranian Journalists, published its annual report in which it declares ‎that 29 publications have been banned, 15 journalists have been detained, 17 journalists ‎have been interrogated, and 39 court sentences have been issued against Iranian reporters. ‎

According to the report, some of the banned publications last year, such as the monthly ‎Zanan, and the bi-weekly Donyaye Tasvir, have been in business for the past 16 or 17 ‎years. The publication permits of others such as Ariya were annulled even before the ‎publications began their work. Shargh and Ham-Mihan are the best known newspapers ‎that were banned last year. ‎

The report warns that the “restrictions that are imposed on the press and journalists by ‎government agencies are now being expanded to other media activities such as web ‎bloggers and Internet news sites.” Extensive and repeated filtering of Internet sites and ‎officials requests to stop the activities of some news agencies and Internet sites that are ‎active in the dissemination of news, such as ILNA, Baztab news site, Nosazi news site, ‎and sites that analyze and follow the events in the women’s movement in Iran are also ‎referenced in the document.‎

Other activities and events of last year that are cited in the report are the 39 court ‎judgments against journalists that have either sent many to jail, fined them with monetary ‎payments, flogged them, banned them from leaving the country, exiled them, forced ‎payment of guarantees and bail amounts, and forced delegation of authority. These are ‎only part of the extensive suppressive measures facing the Iranian media, according to the ‎report, during last year. The laundry list goes on to add that 15 journalists were detained ‎during the period and ten are behind bars at the moment of the release of the report of the ‎union, while a total of 17 journalists were summoned to interrogation session that totaled ‎over 120 sittings which included editors and managers of the media.‎

The non-recognition of the role of the media by mid and senior government authorities, ‎the lack of suitable and decent services and resources for people working in the media ‎industry, particularly reporters, the absence of any extensive and fair official support of ‎the media and the biased rewards provided to some news outlets, the absence of a single ‎standard for utilizing commercial advertisements and the existence of favoritism for pro-‎government media are mentioned in the union’s report as well. These events and ‎measures or their absence have been inflicting harm to the profession and media in Iran ‎on an unprecedented scale, which also threaten the professional security and ‎independence of Iranian reporters and journalists.‎

On a different subject, the report indicates that there are absolutely no new critical media ‎added to the scene in Iran. During 2007, only two permits for new publications were ‎issued, and they went to pre selected individuals who had special relations with ‎government authorities. Ironically, the number of directives that were issued to the media ‎grew unprecedentally, which were aimed at controlling the published media, thus ‎shutting the free dissemination of news in the country.‎

In a related news, it should be noted that the report of the Iranian journalists union was ‎published after the release from prison of Ismail Jaafari, a photo journalist of the weekly ‎Bushehr publication who had photographed the procession of protesting workers of Sadra ‎company. But a day before to his release, Masood Raffia Taleghani, a journalist for ‎Farhang Ashti and Etemad publications was arrested by plain-clothes men from a security ‎agency. This news was announced by the union on April 22, 2008, while most of the ‎press reported his arrest to have taken place a week earlier on April 13, 2008 . According ‎to news reports on the arrest, agents searched Taleghani’s residence and took away some ‎of his writings and documents. In the media, the reason for the delay in the ‎announcement of Taleghani’s arrest is attributed to pressure from security agents on to ‎the victim’s family members not to talk to the media.‎