[WSIS CS-Plenary] Iran: Journalists Receive Death Threats After Testifying

[west]

Iran: Journalists Receive Death Threats After Testifying 

Presidential Commission Heard Their Testimony of Torture During 

Detention 

(New York, January 6, 2005) -- After testifying to a presidential 

commission about their torture during detention, a group of Iranian 

journalists have received death threats from judicial officials under 

Tehran chief prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi, Human Rights Watch said today. 

Human Rights Watch is extremely concerned about the safety of the 

journalists, whose testimony to a presidential commission, tasked with 

investigating mistreatment of detainees, provided detailed information on 

their torture and mistreatment while they were detained, without being 

charged, by secret squads operating under the authority of the judiciary. 

"We want the Iranian government to know that the world is watching what 

happens to these young journalists. The Iranian government is responsible 

for their safety," said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Middle 

East and North Africa Division at Human Rights Watch. "The Iranian 

authorities should be protecting citizens who testify before presidential 

commissions instead of sending them death threats." 

On December 25, Hanif Mazroi, Massoud Ghoreishi, Fereshteh Ghazi, 

Arash Naderpour and Mahbobeh Abasgholizadeh—all of whom are journalists 

detained by the government—testified about their detention before the 

presidential commission. Fereshteh Ghazi provided details of her 

treatment by interrogators, including severe beatings that resulted 

in a broken nose during one interrogation session. The detainees were 

kept under lengthy solitary confinement in a secret detention center 

and were repeatedly subjected to psychological and physical torture. 

On January 1 two other former detainees, Omid Memarian and Ruzbeh 

Mir Ebrahimi, also appeared in front of the commission. In their 

testimonies, as made public by commission member Mohammad Ali 

Abtahi, they confirmed details of their torture. 

Since their appearances before the commission, Saeed Mortazavi, chief 

prosecutor of Tehran, has threatened each of these former detainees with 

lengthy prison sentences and harm to their family members, as punishment 

for their testimony. Mortazavi continues to issue numerous subpoenas for 

the journalists without specifying charges. His operatives also harass the 

journalists by phone on a daily basis. 

On January 3, Mortazavi held a press conference denying any mistreatment 

of detainees and threatening to prosecute the former detainees for 

"allegations against security forces and prison officials that 

are politically motivated." 

The journalists’ testimonies exposed Mortazavi’s role in authorizing 

their torture to extract confessions and in compelling them to appear on 

television to deny their mistreatment while under detention. 

"The brave testimony of these young journalists has reaffirmed evidence 

of Mortazavi’s leading role in the torture of detainees," said Whitson. 

"It’s high time for the Iranian government to investigate Mortazavi’s abuses 

and bring him to justice." 

Saeed Mortazavi has spearheaded the judiciary’s attack on press freedoms 

since the current crackdown began in 2000. He is responsible for the 

closure of numerous newspapers, as well as the arrests and prosecution of 

journalists, which is detailed in the recent Human Right Watch report on 

Iran, "Like the Dead in their Coffins." The report can be found at: 

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/iran0604/ 

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