Washington, D.C., May 24, 2021 \u2014 Iranian authorities must immediately release journalist Najaf Mehdipour, known as Kaveh, and stop arbitrarily arresting members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On May 18, authorities in the eastern city of Darreh Shahr, in Ilam province, arrested Mehdipour, a freelance journalist, at his home and the following day transferred him to a local prison, according to reports by the exile-run Human Rights Activists News Agency<\/a> (HRANA) and SedayehZendani<\/em><\/a>, a website that covers detained journalists and activists in Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those reports said the reason for the journalist\u2019s arrest had not been disclosed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIranian authorities must free journalist Najaf Mehdipour immediately and unconditionally, and cease locking up members of the press for unspecified alleged crimes,\u201d said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Senior Researcher Justin Shilad, in New York. \u201cIf Iran wants its judicial system to have even a modicum of credibility, it cannot continue to imprison journalists without disclosing the charges.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mehdipour worked as the editor-in-chief of the Bakhter Zamin<\/em> magazine, which covered politics, social and cultural, and human rights issues before it was suspended in 2018 for publishing articles critical of Iran\u2019s leaders and alleged human rights abuses, according to HRANA and SedayehZendani<\/em>. Since then, he has contributed op-eds and commentary to various Persian-language outlets, according to CPJ\u2019s review of his recent publications<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mehdipour was previously imprisoned from July 6, 2019, to February 25, 2020, after being convicted of \u201cinsulting the supreme leader\u201d and \u201cspreading propaganda against the regime,\u201d according to HRANA and the Campaign for the Defense of Political and Civil Prisoners<\/a> advocacy group. He was not included on CPJ\u2019s 2019 prison census, as CPJ was not aware of his case at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Iran\u2019s presidential elections are scheduled for June 18<\/a>; CPJ has documented that authorities have repeatedly cracked down<\/a> on the press in the run-up to<\/a> previous regional and national elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Separately, in recent weeks, agents with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the head of Tehran\u2019s Media Court, and the Security and Cyber Police have contacted journalists, newsrooms, and media workers and ordered them not to report any content criticizing conservative presidential candidate Ebrahim Raisi, who is currently the head of the country\u2019s judiciary, according<\/a> to multiple posts<\/a> on social media<\/a> by Iranian journalists<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n CPJ was unable to find contact information for the Ilam province judiciary because the body\u2019s website was down. CPJ called Tehran\u2019s judiciary for comment, but no one answered.<\/p>\n\n
\r\nThis content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists<\/a> and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.
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