Iranian authorities have arrested at least six Internet journalists and webloggers in the past few days, colleagues and relatives said, in a major blow to an already limited press in the Islamic state.
Journalists and relatives named the six arrested web journalists as Shahram Rafizadeh, Babak Ghafouri-Azar, Rouzbeh Amir-Ebrahimi, Hanif Mazroui, Omid Memarian and Mostafa Derayati.
“We do not know where they are being held. We heard they have been kept in solitary confinement,” said a relative of one of the detainees, who asked not to be named.
Iran’s pro-reform Press Association, denounced the move.
“We protest against these arrests. Ignoring the detainees’ right to a lawyer is unlawful,” Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, a leading member of the Association, told journalists.
International human rights groups frequently criticize the lack of freedom of expression in Iran which they say has more journalists in jail than any other country in the Middle East.
Iran’s Judiciary spokesman Jamal Karimirad told the ISNA students news agency that several journalists from “illegal Internet sites” would soon go on trial, facing charges of “propagating against the regime, acting against national security, disturbing the public mind and also insulting religious sanctities,” he said.
Analysts are linking the arrests to the growing American and Israeli pressure against the regime to reform and to calls on dissent organizations to seize power.
Following leaked reports that Israel is ready to strike against several of Iran’s nuclear power facilities if Russia supplies the Ayatollahs with rods for enriching uranium, a senior U.S. official said last month America will take actions to overturn the regime in Iran if President Bush is elected for a second term.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the London Times Bush would provide assistance to Iran’s “hugely dissatisfied” population to help them revolt against the ruling theocracy.
Russia is expected to deliver the enriching rods late next year after a dispute over financial terms is resolved. America and Israel fear Iran will use the rods to quickly assemble a nuclear arsenal.
Iran signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and has obligated itself to random inspections supervised by the IAEA. But the treaty allows Iran to produce nuclear material as long as it can plausibly claim the production is for “peaceful purposes.”
Experts warn that Iran can build the infrastructure needed to make nuclear weapons, telling inspectors they need the material for “energy and nuclear medicine research,” and then kick out the inspectors, renounce the treaty and quickly assemble a nuclear arsenal, as did North Korea, which is now said to have ten nuclear warheads.
Analysts have been particularly worried about Presidential candidate John Kerry’s startling insistence that as president he would provide Tehran with nuclear fuel as long as it is used for peaceful purposes only.
During the first presidential debate, Kerry said, “I think the United States should have offered the opportunity to provide the nuclear fuel, test them, see whether or not they were actually looking for it for peaceful purposes.”
The same policy of accommodation toward Iran’s nuclear aspirations is clearly outlined on Kerry’s campaign website as well.
Under the heading: “Prevent Iran From Developing Nuclear Weapons,” the Kerry campaign states: “Iran claims that its nuclear program is only to meet its domestic energy needs. John Kerry’s proposal would call their bluff by organizing a group of states to offer Iran the nuclear fuel they need for peaceful purposes and take back the spent fuel so they cannot divert it to build a weapon. If Iran does not accept this offer, their true motivations will be clear …”
