Attacks on the Press in 2010 - Committee to Protect Journalists

<strong>Attacks</strong> on the Press in 2010Ahmadinejad’s positions.Authorities did not specify particular articles or publications in whichthe views were supposedly cited. In November 2009, Lotfi was convictedof several charges, including spreading antistate information,and sentenced to four years in prison followed by a period of exile,according to online reports.On July 10, the Human Rights House of Iran reported that Lotfi hadbeen transferred to the remote village of Ashtian for a period ofenforced internal exile. News reports were conflicted on the period ofexile.imprisoned: november 2008Hossein Derakhshan, freelance378On December 30, 2008, a spokesman for the Iranian Judiciary confirmedin a press conference in Tehran that Derakhshan, a well-knownIranian-Canadian blogger, had been detained since November 2008in connection with comments he allegedly made about a key cleric,according to local and international news reports. The exact dateof Derakhshan’s arrest is unknown, but news of his detention firstappeared on November 17, 2008, on a website close to the Iranianintelligence apparatus. At the time, Jahan News reported that he hadconfessed to “spying for Israel” during the preliminary interrogation.Known as the “Blogfather” for his pioneering online work, Derakhshanstarted blogging after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the UnitedStates. A former writer for reformist newspapers, he also contributedopinion pieces to The Guardian of London and The New York Times.The journalist, who lived in Canada during most of the prior decade,returned to Tehran a few weeks before his detention, The WashingtonPost reported. In November 2009, the BBC Persian service reportedthat Derakhshan’s family had sought information about his whereaboutsand the charges he faced, and expressed concern about havingvery limited contact with him.On September 29, the government announced that Derakhshan hadbeen sentenced to 19 and a half years in prison, along with a five-yearban on “membership in political parties and activities in the media,”according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iranand other sources. Derakhshan has spent most of his imprisonmentin solitary confinement at Evin Prison, according to multiple sources.The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, citing a source