IFJ Urges Iran To Lift Jail, Lash Sentences For 3 Journalists

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemned on Wednesday the heavy jail terms for three Iranian journalists sentenced by the Tehran Revolutionary Court earlier in August, and called on the government to stop attacking media workers and suppressing press freedom

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th August, 2019) The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemned on Wednesday the heavy jail terms for three Iranian journalists sentenced by the Tehran Revolutionary Court earlier in August, and called on the government to stop attacking media workers and suppressing press freedom.

According to the organization, Iranian journalist Masoud Kazemi, the former editor-in-chief of the monthly political magazine Sedaye Parsi, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison on national security charges of "spreading misinformation" and "insulting the supreme leader and other Iranian officials." He is also forbidden to work as a journalist for two years.

"These jail sentences are outrageous and are typical of Iran's mistreatment of press freedom and freedom of expression. We demand a revision of Kazemi's judgment and appeals that lift the jail and lashes sentences for Amiri and Marzban," IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said.

Kazemi's colleague, Marzieh Amiri, a journalist working for Shargh daily newspaper, with which Kazemi used to collaborate, was sentenced to 148 lashes, 10 and a half years in prison on charges of "assembly and collusion against the state," "propaganda against the state" and "disrupting of public order" after attending and covering the World Labor Day protest on May 1.

The third journalist sentenced by the Tehran Revolutionary Court was a satirist and writer Kiumars Marzban. He was sentenced to 23 years and nine months in jail on charges of "communication and cooperation with the hostile government of the USA," "community and collusion against the state," "insulting the sacred," "insulting Imam Khomeini [first leader of the Islamic Republic after the revolution]," and "insulting the authorities" after he had produced several short films and wrote for foreign media abroad.