Over 100 Journalists Detained In Iran In Last Year

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) claims at least 100 journalists have been arrested and imprisoned in Iran in the past year.

The report, published in commemoration of the one-year anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini in custody, documented instances of press freedom violations and attacks on media professionals operating within the country.

Many of these journalists have received long sentences or were even forced to leave their jobs. Additionally, at least eight media outlets have faced restrictions due to pressure from security institutions or government and more than 20 journalists have been sentenced to prison on charges such as propaganda against the regime and acting against the country's security.

The issue of summoning whereby journalists are being ordered by judicial authorities or security forces to come for interrogations has increased dramatically in the last year, with over 110 journalists being summoned, the report claims.

At least 20 journalists have been exiled due to arrests, summons, and long-term prison sentences. To date, six journalists are still being held unfairly in prison, including Niloofar Hamedi, a journalist at Shargh newspaper, who was arrested at her home in Tehran after reporting the death of Mahsa Amini, whose death sparked the last year of protests rocking the regime.

The 20th World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) put Iran at the rock bottom of the list earlier this year, only better than Eritrea and North Korea.

Iran ranked 178th out of 180 countries in the table, which is four places worse compared with the previous report published in 2021. In the 2022 index, even Turkmenistan, Myanmar and China rank better than the Islamic Republic.