The International Federation of Journalists General Secretary condemns prison sentence for Mohammad Mosaed
8-September-2020
Category: Labor and guilds
Breathing in Confinement: The International Federation of Journalists General Secretary, calling the Iranian government’s strategy towards journalists as “outrageous”, condemned the jail sentence against Mohammad Mosaed.
According to “Breathing in Confinement, the news organ of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, Anthony Blanger, secretary-general of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), condemned the verdict against Mohammad Mosaed, calling it “another example of how the Iranian government uses the legal system to clamp down on unwelcome voices in the country.” “Mohammad Mosaed did not commit any crime but only did his job as a journalist,” said Anthony Blanger.
Mohammad Mosaed, an economic journalist has been arrested twice within the last one year for his reports on economic corruption as well as the November 2019 protests in Iran. And recently, his four years and nine months prison sentence has been upheld.
Mohammad Mosaed has previously been sentenced by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran to 4 years and 9 months in prison plus 2 years of being banned from any journalistic activity as well as confiscation of his communication devices.
The International Federation of Journalists, in addition to condemning the verdict against Mohammad Mosaed, has denounced the sentences against Nima Saffar, Marzieh Amiri and Keyvan Samimi.
Nima Saffar, a poet and writer, has been sentenced to eight months in prison on charges of “propaganda against the regime on social media.”
Marzieh Amiri, a reporter for Sharq newspaper, was arrested in May 2019 for covering the news about workers ‘rally on International Workers’ Day. She was sentenced by Revolutionary Court to 10 and a half years in prison as well as 148 lashes.
Keyvan Samimi, a 72-year-old journalist and the editor in chief of Iran-e- Farda Magazine, was sentenced to three years in prison on July 27, on charge of “Gathering and colluding with the intention of acting against the national security.”
According to Reporters Without Borders, Iran is one of world’s five largest prisons for journalists.