Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi, who is representing the three women’s rights activists who were arrested at the Imam Khomeini Airport last Thursday, said that her clients would face trial in the next two months. Ebadi added that the activists were being charged for undermining national security because they attended a conference in the Netherlands.
Journalist and blogger Farnaz Seifi, who was among the detained activists, shared some of her experiences in an interview with Rooz. “From what the officers were saying,” notes Seifi, “it seemed that they were worried and threatened by the fact that the Dutch government has allocated a budget for promoting democracy in Iran.”
Seifi believes that such treatment of journalists, who are loyal to their country and are concerned with developing and refining their professional abilities, only generates distrust, and benefits the country in no way: “My goal and method of practice is completely transparent and clear. I will continue doing my work.”
With respect to the official charges facing her and her colleagues, Seifi says, “They only told us officially that we will be summoned again for interrogations, and might be charged as well.” According to Seifi, this kind of treatment of civil society activists and journalists is nothing new, and will continue.
When asked whether the officials think that such random actions might damage the reputation of the intelligence apparatus, Seifi responded, “Actually they are worried that such actions might harm their reputation. That’s why they were trying really hard to be respectful and nice. They kept insisting that they were doing this as a preventative measure. They said that our arrests were to prevent foreigners and counterrevolutionaries from taking advantage of us.”
In the past few months, Iran’s intelligence organizations have been wary of the actions of journalists and civil society activists, particularly those who travel outside the country and network with foreign organizations. So far, however, formal charges have not been proved in any of the cases brought forth against these activists.
