90Iranian journalists call on the Iranian authorities to immediately release four journalists, who were arrested by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in early November.The four journalists, Isa Saharkhiz, Ehsan Mazandarani, Afarin Chitsaz, and Saman Safarzaei, were detained in what appears to be a new crackdown on press freedom ahead of the country’s parliamentary elections next year. They are allegedly accused of being members of an “infiltration network” colluding with hostile Western governments, but have not yet been tried in court.
“We, the undersigned journalists, believe that arresting these four journalists is an attack on press freedom, and we demand their immediate release,“ starts the petition signed by 90 Iranian journalists on December 2, 2015.
“The four journalists were arrested on trumped-up and baseless charges of collaborating with foreign media, even though President Hassan Rouhani has publicly voiced his objection to the arrests.”
According to the petition, the detention of the four journalists is a violation of international human rights agreements as well as Iran’s constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression for all Iranian citizens including journalists.
“According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, freedom of expression is an inalienable right of all human beings. Anyone accused of a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty in a fair trial,” the petition says, and ends:
“The detention of these journalists is illegal and a violation of their legal rights. The responsible authorities must take action and release the imprisoned journalists.”
Signed by:
1- Ehsan Mehrabi
2- Ahmad Rafat
3- Ardavan Roozbeh
4- Ershad Alikhani
5- Omid Keshtkar
6- Oimd Memarian
7- Amir Kalhor
8- Amir Hossein Motaghi
9- Amir Hossein Mosala
10- Arash Bahmani
11- Arash Azizi
12- Aida Ghajar
13- Behdad Bordbar
14- Bahram Rafiei
15- Behrouz Samadi
16- Bijan SafSari
17- Bijan Farhoudi
18- Tara Bonyad
19- Touka Neyestani
20- Javad Montazeri
21- Hossein NoushAzar
22- Hamid Eslami
23- Hanif Mazrouei
24- Delbar Tavakoli
25- Rasoul Asghari
26- Reza Haji Hosseini
27- Reza Haghighat Nejad
28- Rouholah Sepand Arand
29- Rouzbeh Mir Ebrahimi
30- Roya Maleki
31- Reyhaneh Mazaheri
32- Sara Damavand
33- Saghi Leghai
34- Sam Sarabi
35- Soroush Farhadian
36- Sama Babai
37- Solmaz Ikdar
38- Siamak Bagheri
39- Shadi Shafie
40- Shahed Alavi
41- Shabnam Azar
42- Shokoufeh Azar
43- Shahram Rafizadeh
44- Shirin Family
45- Ali Asghar Ramezanpour
46- Ali Anisi Tehrani
47- Ali Kheradpir
48- Ali Mahtadi
49- Alireza Taheri
50- Fatemeh Fanaian
51- Fatemeh Karimkhan
52- Faraj Sarkouhi
53- Farzaneh Bazrpour
54- Farzin Golpad
55- Farshid Faryabi
56- Fariborz Soroush
57- Farid Haeri Nejad
58- Firoozeh Akbarian
59- Kambiz Ghafouri
60- Kamyar Behrang
61- Lida Ayaz
62- Lida Hosseini Nejad
63- Maziar Bahari
64- Mani Tehrani
65- Mahrokh Gholamhosseinpour
66- Mojtaba Najafi
67- Majid Saidi
68- Mohamad Aghazadeh
69- Mohammad Tangestani
70- Morteza Kazemian
71- Mojgan Ghafari SHirvan
72- Masoud Behnoud
73- Masoud Safiri
74- Mansoureh Farahani
75- Moloud Hajizadeh
76- Mehdi Tajik
77- Mehdi Mohseni
78- Mehrdad Hoajati
79- Mitra Khalatbari
80- Minou Badie
81- Nazanin Khosravani
82- Nahid Kheirani
83- Naimeh Doustdar
84- Noushabeh Amiri
85- Nik Ahang Kowsar
86- Niloufar Rostami
87- Nima Rad
88- Niyusha Saremi
89- Homayoun Kheiri
90- Yousef Azizi BaniTaraf
