Farda-e-Eghtesad Journalists Detained for Over a Week in Tehran

Four journalists from the Iranian financial news website Farda-e-Eghtesad have been held in Tehran's Shapur Detention Center for over a week.

According to the Defending the Free Flow of Information Organization (DFI) Mehrdad Asgari, Nikan Khabazi, Ali Tasnimi, and Behzad Bahmannejad were arrested on February 5 at the outlet’s Tehran offices. 

The journalists have been denied access to lawyers while in custody, DFI cited an informed source as saying. 

There has been no official information about the reason for their arrests or the charges they face. 

Families of the detained journalists have been told by judicial authorities that the prosecutor handling the case is “on leave."

On February 5, security forces raided a building housing the offices of Farda-e-Eghtesad, detained approximately 30 of its journalists for 14 hours at their workplace without explanation, and confiscated their phones and computers. 

The judiciary has said the investigation into the website is unrelated to its journalistic activity. It did not provide further details