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Society & Culture

Sentenced To Eight Years in Jail for Facebook Posts

June 10, 2015
Natasha Bowler
2 min read
Sentenced To Eight Years in Jail for Facebook Posts

The Iranian government harasses, imprisons and tortures journalists on a daily basis. Why? For exercising their fundamental right to freedom of information and expression.

Journalism is not a Crime was set up to support these jailed journalists. The site, which is launched this week, documents cases where journalists are unfairly arrested, and aids reporters and their loved ones by providing legal and psychological help to those affected.

 

Authorities sentenced prominent television producer and writer, Mostafa Azizi, 53, to eight years in prison on Monday, June 8 on charges of “collusion against Iran” and “insulting the Supreme Leader.”

It is thought the allegations stem from comments Azizi posted on social media.

"I'm still in shock," his daughter Parastoo Azizi told CBC. "My dad is innocent. He hasn't done anything wrong."

Azizi moved to Canada with his family in 2008. His children have Canadian citizenship, and Azizi, who is already a permanent resident, is in the process of obtaining nationality.

Azizi travelled back to Iran in January 2015 to visit his family and consider the possibility of returning home.  But on February 1, the Iranian authorities arrested him and kept him in detention.

For a month, security agents held him in Cell Block 2A of Tehran’s Evin Prison – a section run by the Revolutionary Guards – where he was harshly interrogated and harassed before he was transferred to communal Ward 8.

Mostafa Azizi is now appealing his case.

Azizi began working for the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) radio service in 1986. After this, he moved to television.

In 1994, he started his own private production company, and produced popular television programs. Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting for the next six years. In 2010, Azizi moved to Canada.

“As a teenager I took part in the revolution for a better life,” he told Iranian poet Sepideh Jodeyri in March 2012. “And then I saw that all those dreams were fading and bursting like bubbles. A fresh dictatorship was merely replacing the old one.”

“I didn’t emigrate. Rather, I’m living like an exile. I’ve done a few small things here and there but I couldn’t call it my ‘new life.’ Mostly I’m here physically but my soul is wandering around Iran.”

His son Arash recently the same thing. “My father returned to Iran because he loved his country,” his son Arash told IranWire. “He wanted to work there and be near to his family, especially since his father was old and ill.”

Arash added at the time, “He expected there might have been consequences for his return but he didn’t think he’d committed an offense.”

 

To learn more about issues affecting journalists in Iran please visit: journalismisnotacrime.com

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