H.E. Ayatollah Ali Hoseini-Khamenei
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
c/o Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran
to the United Nations
622 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Fax: (212) 867-7086
Your Excellency:
We write on this day, World Press Freedom Day, to protest your continuing attacks on a free press in Iran. To the best of our knowledge, there are 193 journalists imprisoned around the world — most of them solely for having done their jobs as journalists. Among the 29 countries that have put their journalists in jail, Iran, with 11, has the fourth largest number. Only China, Cuba, and Eritrea have imprisoned more of our colleagues.
According to our information, the 11 journalists jailed by your government are:
Abbas Abdi and Hossein Ghazian, jailed since 2002 for publishing the results of a poll showing that
Iranians favored resuming relations with the United States.
Hassan Yousefi Eshkevari, jailed since 2000 for remarks deemed ?insulting@quot; to top-ranking officials and for ?acting against national security? at a conference in Berlin. The newspaper where he was a contributing editor, Iran-e-Farda , has been banned.
Alireza Jabari, jailed since last year for allegedly distributing alcoholic drinks and encouraging immoral acts. His real offense appears to have been distributing news to foreign web sites. Jabari, a freelancer, endured 253 lashes in addition to his three-year sentence.
Siamak Poursand, jailed since 2001, was abducted by intelligence agents and sentenced to 11 years after a secret trial without a defense attorney. A journalist and film critic, Poursand is 74, suffers from diabetes and heart problems, and reportedly has been denied medical treatment.
Taghi Rahmani, Reza Alijani and Hoda Saber, jailed since last June after a meeting with students who supported anti-government protests. All three worked at the banned weekly, Omar-e-Zangan .
Iraj Jamshidi, jailed since last July without being charged or tried. He was editor-in-chief of the financial daily, Asia .
Akbar Ganji, jailed since 2001 for ?harming national security and spreading propaganda against the Islamic system.? He was an investigative journalist with the daily Sobh-e-Emrooz and author of a successful book criticizing your predecessor.
Amir Abbas Fakhravar, jailed since 2002, was beaten in the courtroom when he was on trial for criticizing the government. He was a medical student and a journalist for the banned dailies, Mosharekat and Khordad , and wrote a book criticizing Iran@quot;s leaders.
Your Excellency, these journalists have done nothing more than exercise a universally recognized right of free expression. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that ?everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.? U.N. members recognize that this principle is sometimes difficult and inconvenient to uphold, but it is crucial for both practical and moral reasons. A nation that stifles freedom of thought forfeits the good opinion of the world and isolates itself. This may prompt political or economic sanctions, with loss of diplomatic influence and domestic prosperity. At the least, it relegates a country to the company of North Korea, Iraq under Saddam Hussein, or Zimbabwe. In the long run, a repressive regime will be overturned.
The Overseas Press Club of America, an independent organizations of journalists that has defended freedom of the press around the world for 65 years, urges you to re-think your policy, to welcome the free expression of ideas and opinions, and to release the 11 journalists your government holds in jail.
The courtesy of a reply would be appreciated.
Respectfully yours,
Jeremy Main
Kevin McDermott
Freedom of the Press Committee