No Newspapers Left for Banning

In commemoration of the World Press Freedom Day, Reporters Without Borders issued a report reminding the world that more than 200 journalists and bloggers have been arrested in Iran in recent years and naming president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and supreme leader Ali Khamenei as two of the 38 “predators” against press freedom in 2011.

Meanwhile, UNESCO awarded Iranian journalist Ahmad Zeidabadi with its 2011 World Freedom Press Prize.

Experienced Iranian journalist Ahmad Rafat, currently serving on the board of directors of the International Federation of Journalists, told Rooz that Iranian journalists experienced one of the worst eras in history over the last year: “In prior years we objected to the banning of newspapers or called for the release of journalists. But now no newspapers are even left for banning in Iran.”

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said in its report, “Iran’s predators – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, reelected as the Islamic Republic’s president in June 2009, and Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader – are the architects of a relentless crackdown marked by Stalinist-style trials of opposition politicians, journalists and human rights activists.”

Noting that more than “200 journalists and bloggers have ben arrested” in Iran, Reporters Without Borders voiced concern that 40 Iranian journalists and bloggers continue to remain behind bars for “insulting the supreme leader or president,” “espionage,” “disseminating false information,” or “acting against national security.”

According to this organization, an estimated 3,000 journalists are currently out of work in Iran because their newspapers have been closed or they have been banned from journalism.

Reporters Without Borders also called for the immediate dispatch of a special human rights envoy to Iran.

Speaking to Rooz, Ahmad Rafat welcomed the report documenting press freedom abuses in Iran, but remained pessimistic about the report’s impact on the Islamic republic’s policies.

Rafat added, “It is always good to reveal instances of abuse of journalists rights wherever they occur in the world, but in the case of Iran, I don’t think these reports would affect the Islamic republic’s behavior. The Islamic republic is always high on the list, near countries like China, in every list that has to do with human rights, especially executions and press freedom.”

Nevertheless, Rafat said, “Although these reports don’t change the Islamic republic’s behavior or approach, they are very beneficial for the world public opinion and countries that deal with Iran, so that they known what kind of a regime they are dealing with. But to expect that reports like this, or even the dispatch of a special human rights envoy to Iran could cause change in Iran’s approach to freedom, in my opinion, is overly optimistic.”

Meanwhile, Iranian journalist Ahmad Zeidabadi was the laureate of this year’s UNESCO Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.

Zeidabadi, who is serving a prison term in Iran, accepted the prize via a message: “[I]n accepting this Prize which is in reality a recognition of all prisoners of opinion in my country and my imprisoned or exiled colleagues, I dedicate it to my family and in particular to my wife and children. In addition to the psychological pains of these two years, they have for the past ten years had to live with the dread of an expected ‘knock on the door.’ With every unexpected knock on the door, their fragile and innocent hearts were agitated.”