Free Iranian Journalist Saam Mahmoodi Sarabi, Sentenced to 8 Years in Prison
- Target:
- UN, UNHCHR, US State Department, EU, Navi Pillay, Ban Ki-Moon, European Parliament, AI, HRW
- Region:
- GLOBAL
- Website:
- www.radiozamaneh.com
UPDATE OCTOBER 8, 2012-- IRANIAN JOURNALIST SAAM MAHMOODI SARABI HAS BEEN SENTENCED TO 8 YEARS IN PRISON, PLUS A 10-YEAR BAN ON JOURNALISM!
Saam Mahmoudi Sarabi, an Iranian journalist, has been sentenced to eight years in jail and a 10-year ban from media activities in Iran.
Nedaye Sabz Azadi’s website reports that the sentenced journalist’s lawyer has reported that his client was charged with “assembly and collusion against national security, propaganda against the regime, publishing falsehood and insulting the leader.”
Mahmoudi Sarabi’s sentence has been approved by the appellate court and forwarded to Evin Prison.
Mahmoudi Sarabi was arrested in March of 2011 and released after more than eight months in jail.
The authorities previously had held him in jail for 44 days for writing a poem about the alleged confessions of political prisoners following the 2009 elections protests and for writing an open letter to MirHosein Mousavi, one of the leaders of the opposition.
After the controversial election of 2009, the crackdown on Iranian journalists and reporters has been ratcheted up by the Islamic Republic, and opposition groups report that in the past two years 108 reporters have been arrested, and while some have been released, many still remain behind bars.
EARLIER BACKGROUND:
Iranian journalist Saam Mahmoodi Sarabi continues to be held in legal limbo at Evin Prison, even as his arrest warrant is renewed after two months.
“While they had told us that they would process his file this month, he remains in an undetermined state in Ward 350 of Evin Prison,” his family told the Jaras website. “The security forces also prevent his lawyers from visiting him or even contacting the investigator in his case.”
According to his mother, Alieh Jangi, Mahmoodi was arrested for writing poetry and an open letter to opposition leader MirHosein Mousavi, which the investigator has deemed to be “propaganda against the regime, activity against national security and insulting the leadership.”
Mahmoodi, a staff member of Shargh newspaper, was arrested last March.
Sam Mahmoodi Sarabi is clearly a prisoner of conscience, and his arrest, eight-year prison sentence and continued imprisonment for his writings consitute a grave violation of both the International Covenant On Civil And Political Rights and Article 24 of the Iranian Constitution.
We demand that the international community take all possible action to pressure the Islamic Republic of Iran to immediately and unconditionally release imprisoned journalist Sam Mahmoodi Sarabi. Furthermore, this illegal prison sentence must be annulled, and all charges vacated. Needless to say, the ten-year ban on pursusing his journalism is both an obscenity and a slap in the face to established international norms of law and justice, and as such must also be immediately rescinded.
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The Free Iranian Journalist Saam Mahmoodi Sarabi, Sentenced to 8 Years in Prison petition to UN, UNHCHR, US State Department, EU, Navi Pillay, Ban Ki-Moon, European Parliament, AI, HRW was written by John S. Burke and is in the category Human Rights at GoPetition.