Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009middle east and north africa: iraqsix who were already in Iranian jails at the time of the election. One of the six,freelance journalist Massoud Kurdpour, was released from Mahabad CentralPrison in northwestern Iran in early August after completing a one-year jail termfor “propaganda against the regime.” Another, Canadian-Iranian blogger HosseinDerakhshan continued to be held in late year. Known in Iran as the “Blogfather”for his pioneering Internet commentary, Derakhshan was detained in November2008, ostensibly for comments he made about a key cleric. Derakhshan’s whereaboutsand legal status were unknown in late year.In late January, Iran jailed an Iranian-American journalist, Roxana Saberi,at Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, where political prisoners are often held. Saberi,32, had worked inside Iran for National Public Radio, the BBC, ABCNews, and other international media outlets since 2003, until her press credentialswere revoked in 2006. According to NPR, Saberi continued to fileshort news items with government permission. In April, she was convicted ofespionage and sentenced after a closed, one-day trial to eight years in prison. Inearly May, after a five-hour hearing, an appeals court reduced her punishmentto a two-year suspended sentence (and a five-year ban on reporting from Iran).Saberi’s espionage sentence was overturned, although the court upheld her convictionfor “having classified information,” defense lawyer Saleh Nikbakht toldCPJ. Nikbakht said the appeals hearing focused on a research paper on U.S.tactics, produced in early 2003 by a center for strategic studies within the Iraniangovernment, which officers found during a search of Saberi’s apartment inTehran. Defense lawyers rejected prosecutors’ contention that the paper wasclassified; Saberi told judges she had picked up the paper at a public conferencein Tehran. Saberi’s legal team also maintained that Saberi’s “confession,” a basisof the prosecution’s case, had been coerced and not put in writing, Nikbakhtsaid. CPJ’s vigorous international advocacy on Saberi’s behalf included a petitionsigned by more than 10,000 people worldwide.In July, a Revolutionary Court in Tehran convicted local journalist SaeedMatin-Pour on a charge of having “relations with foreigners and propagatingagainst the regime.” He was initially arrested in May 2007 after visiting Turkeybut was released on bail. He was rearrested amid the 2009 crackdown, sentencedto eight years in jail, and sent immediately to Evin Prison. CPJ condemned thesentence and the vagueness of the charge.At least two journalists have died at Evin Prison in the last six years undercircumstances that have not been fully explained, CPJ research shows, includingOmidreza Mirsayafi, a blogger who died in March while serving a 30-monthsentence on a charge of insulting Iran’s religious authorities. In 2003, Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi died of a brain hemorrhage that resultedfrom a beating while behind bars.On July 31, Iranian forces detained three young Americans who strayed overthe border into Iran while hiking in a resort area on the Iraqi Kurdistan border.Sarah Shourd is a writer and teacher; Joshua Fattal is an environmentalist; andShane Bauer is a freelance journalist based in Damascus, Syria. On November11, Iranian authorities announced they would be charged with espionage. U.S.Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton publicly criticized the hikers’ arrests,stating the charges against them were baseless. Some news reports speculated theAmericans might be held for diplomatic bargaining purposes.IRAQFour Iraqi journalists were killed because of their work asthe press continued to face great challenges and risks. Nevertheless, the deathtoll dropped to its lowest point since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, and, for thefirst time in six years, Iraq was not the world’s deadliest nation for journalists. (Itwas replaced by the Philippines.) No journalists or media workers were reportedabducted, reflecting another steep drop from prior years.The marked decline in media fatalities and abductions was consistent withan overall drop in violence in recent years. Analysts cited a variety of factors,including the increasing participation of Sunni groups and other sectarian elementsin the political process and the shift in security responsibilities from theU.S. military to Iraqi forces. By June 30, as part of an agreement between theUnited States and Iraq, U.S. troops withdrew from all Iraqi cities and towns,handing control of security to the Iraqi government.“The security situation continued to improve because the political partiesand insurgents kept losing theirarmed powers,” said Ziad al-Ajili, director of the JournalisticFreedoms Observatory, JFO, alocal press freedom group. “Theimprovement in security has reflectedpositively on the safetyof journalists in Iraq.” Foreigncorrespondents agreed. “Apparentlyjournalists are no longer aspecific target,” Quil Lawrence,NPR’s Baghdad bureau chief,told CPJ. Continuing a yearslongtrend, Iraqi journalistst o p developments»»Fatalities and abductions plummet assecurity situation improves.»»Prime minister, others file lawsuits toharass media. Kurdish courts jail sixjournalists.4key statisticJournalists killed in connection totheir work, the lowest tally since thewar began in 2003.216217