From: amnesty@amnesty.oil.ca
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2000 10:59:19 -0400
Message-Id: <200004271459.KAA13238@amnesty.oil.ca>
To: amnesty-L@oil.ca
Subject: IRAN: Clampdown on freedom of expression
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* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International *
News Service: 078/00
AI INDEX: MDE 13/08/00
27 April 2000

PUBLIC STATEMENT

IRAN

Clampdown on freedom of expression

Amnesty International today called on the Iranian Government to release
immediately the journalist Akbar Ganji who was arrested and interrogated
on 22 April 2000. He was questioned by the Tehran Press Court and later
taken to Evin prison. The organization considers him a prisoner of
conscience and fears he may be ill-treated.

Akbar Ganji faces 10 charges relating to articles he wrote implicating
senior Iranian political figures including Hojjatoleslam Ali Akbar
Hashemi Rafsanjani in the 1998 murders of a number of intellectuals and
writers, and statements he made at a conference on "Iran after the
elections" held in Berlin on 7-9 April. The conference received enormous
publicity within Iran, and some religious figures have accused some of
those who attended of apostasy, or turning away from Islam.

Akbar Ganji's arrest comes during a mounting clampdown on freedom of
expression in Iran which led to the interrogation and arrest of
journalists and writers and the closure of newspapers. A warrant for the
arrest of Hojjatoleslam Yousefi Eshkevari has also been issued by the
Special Court for the Clergy in connection with statements he is alleged
to have made at the Berlin conference.

The publisher and editor of the now-banned newspaper Neshat (Joy), Latif
Safari and Mashallah Shamsolva’ezin, have recently been imprisoned in
connection with articles questioning the use of the death penalty.
Publisher Abdollah Nouri was imprisoned in November 1999 in connection
with articles in the now banned newspaper Khordad.

These arrests and the closure this week of 13 newspapers and periodicals
in Iran, including Fath (Victory), Asr-e Azadegan (Era of the Free) and
Iran-e Farda (Iran of Tomorrow) mark a serious escalation in the attack
on freedom of expression. The publications were ordered to be closed
following concerted public condemnation of certain sections of the press
by the Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran .

Amnesty International considers these arrests and the closure of
newspapers as a serious violation of freedom of expression and other
basic human rights, which contradict the commitments made by Iran to the
international community.

ENDS.../
Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 1 Easton Street,
WC1X 8DJ, London, United Kingdom
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