Clampdown on freedom of expression in Iran intensifies

Since International PEN's last Iran campaign in May 2002, a further seven writers and journalists have been arrested and sentenced to lengthy prison terms solely for expressing their opinions, and many more are facing charges. International PEN is currently campaigning for the release of fourteen writers or journalists, and is monitoring the cases of a further eleven who have been charged or sentenced but are not currently detained. Dozens more have been briefly detained. These arrests are part of the ongoing repression of reformist and independent figures by the conservative judiciary that has been gathering momentum in Iran since the victory of President Khatami's Reform movement in the parliamentary elections of February 2000.

Writers, journalists and publishers have been particularly targeted, and over ninety reformist publications have now been closed down. In January this year a new Commission was set up by religious hardliners to monitor "illegal" news websites, a measure designed to target the news sites that have thrived since the closure of so many reformist newspapers in the past three years. Two website journalists have since been detained.

In February 2003, a five-member delegation from the United Nations Commission on Human Rights visited Iran for the first time in seven years to investigate arbitrary arrests, and expressed serious concern about the large numbers of arbitrary detentions and the widespread practice of solitary detention of political dissidents for long periods. In June 2003, thousands took to the streets of Tehran in support of student-led anti-government protests which were violently suppressed by the authorities; several journalists were among those to have been arrested. PEN is increasingly concerned about the impact on writers and journalists as the tension between the pro-reform liberals and the conservative religious hardliners mounts. In the light of these heightening concerns about the repression of freedom of expression in Iran, International PEN Writers in Prison Committee is launching another Iran campaign, to run from December 10-31, 2003, to raise its concerns once again with the Iranian authorities.

The campaign will focus on the following issues:

• The on-going long-term and widespread arbitrary detention of writers and journalists.

• Ill-treatment in prison, including the practice of solitary confinement.

• Concerns about fair trial.

RECOMMENDED ACTIONS:

PEN members, supporters and friends are urged to take part in this campaign by sending appeals to the Iranian authorities:

• protesting the widespread imprisonment of writers and journalists in Iran, in violation of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Iran is a signatory, and calling for all those detained solely for peacefully expressing their views to be immediately and unconditionally released;

• condemning the reported ill-treatment of writers and journalists in detention, and the practice of solitary confinement;

• expressing serious concerns that those detained for expressing their views are apparently systematically abused with impunity, particularly while in pre-trial detention, and denied their right to a fair trial as guaranteed by the Iranian constitution as well as international standards.

Please contact ftw@pen.org if you have any questions.