Plainclothes Agents Arrest Journalist Following Corruption Tweet

On the morning November 5, 2018, plainclothes agents raided journalist Masoud Kazemi’s apartment and arrested him.

According to Kazemi’s family, the arresting agents did not provide any court orders nor supply a reason for his arrest. As well as detaining Kazemi, they also confiscated his laptop, a flash drive, notes, and some other personal belongings.

Masoud Kazemi is the editor-in-chief of the monthly journal Seda-ye Parsi (Persian Voice) and former reporter at Shargh newspaper. He has also worked with many media outlets over the last few years, including Ghanoon (Law) and Mardom-e Emrooz (People Today).

According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a day before the arrest, Kazemi had tweeted about corruption in the Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Trade, which could be a reason for his arrest.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Iran ranks alongside China and Turkey in terms of the highest number of jailed journalists over the last decade. CPJ also reports that pressures on Iran civil society and Iranian journalists has increased since 2009 and that Iranian citizens enjoy less and less freedom of the press each year. Reporters Without Borders ranks Iran 164 out of 180 countries on its Press Freedom Index, meaning it is one of the world’s worst countries for freedom of the press.

Over the last month, the Iranian government has arrested several journalists and human rights activists including satirist Kiumars Marzban,and Ebtekar newspaper journalist Pouyan Khoshhal. No further information is available about Kazemi’s whereabouts or the charges against him.

More on the persecution of journalists in Iran: 

Jail, Censorship, Forced Confessions: Life as a Journalist in Iran

Iranian Journalists: New Year, Same Old Fears

BBC Appeal to the UN: Journalism is Not A Crime

Iranian Official Accuses BBC of Hate Speech, Propaganda and Fake News