Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who plans to attend the UN General Assembly session opening in New York on Tuesday 13 September, must be held to account for his involvement in the 1988 massacre of thousands of political prisoners, including several hundred journalists, says Reporters Without Borders (RSF), pointing out that, even now, 22 journalists are imprisoned in appalling conditions in Iran.
RSF has been told that the fate of these three journalists – Alieh Motalebzadeh, Narges Mohammadi and Kayvan Samimi Behbahani – is controlled by Amin Vaziri, a 28-year-old deputy prosecutor who is charge of Evin’s prisoners of conscience and who is close to the head of the Iranian judicial system, Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Eje. Vaziri “is in charge of the dirty work,” a lawyer
The exceptional surge in arbitrary detention is due, above all, to three countries – Myanmar, where the military retook power in a coup on 1 February 2021, Belarus, which has seen a major crackdown since the disputed 2020 presidential election, and China, which is tightening its grip on Hong Kong.
Journalists imprisoned in Iran are being denied basic human rights, including medical treatment, visits from their families and phone calls, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Wednesday.