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: JURIST - The Paper Chase

Iran president orders prosecutor to recognize rights of detained journalists

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

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[JURIST] Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday issued an order to prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi to recognize the legal rights of detained journalists Roxana Saberi and Hossein Derakhshan, according to a report by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). According to the IRNA, the letter called for Mortazavi to make sure the cases against the two were governed by the interests of justice, and that their right to legally defend themselves was recognized, but no other details were released. Saberni is an Iranian-American journalist who was sentenced to eight years in prison for espionage by an Iranian court on Saturday, and Derakhshan is an Iranian-Canadian blogger who has been detained in the country since November, also on espionage charges. Critics of Saberni's arrest and conviction maintain that her trial was a farce and have said that the statement was motivated by politics rather than justice. Last year, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported that Iran ranked sixth in the world for total number of imprisoned journalists. In the past two years, Iran has arrested several journalists and scholars on espionage charges. In 2007, Iran accused four Iranian-Americans of belonging to a US-organized spy network. Iran formally charged Iranian-American scholar Dr. Haleh Esfandiari for allegedly plotting "against the sovereignty of the country." Iran also charged Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh and Radio Farda correspondent Parnaz Azima with allegedly engaging in an espionage conspiracy. An Iranian judge said that Esfandiari and Tajbakhsh admitted to carrying out some "activities", although it was unclear if their statements were tantamount to an admission of spying.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on April 19, 2009 (boomark / email).