Mahsa Jozeini, journalist and women's rights campaigner, was arrested in 2010 for activities against national security and accused of links with foreigners. She was also banned from further education.
Name: Mahsa Jozeini
Born: 1981, Isfahan
Career: Journalist; currently writes for Shargh. Formerly, she wrote for the government's official newspaper Iran
Charges: Activities against national security and ties to foreigners.
Mahsa Jozeini, a women’s right activist and a member of Isfahan’s Society for Defense of Human Rights, experienced censorship and harassment even before she became a journalist. At university, Jozeini and other activists faced persecution for their involvement in the One Million Signatures for the Repeal of Discriminatory Laws campaign. She was later banned from further education, and prevented from enrolling on a graduate course.
On the night of February 7 2010, security agents arrested Jozeini at her home and took her to Isfahan’s Dastgerd Prison. A number of women’s rights websites reported that she had been arrested for her feminist activities, but during interrogation she was told that she had been detained in connection with a recent trip to Dubai to interview for a job with Radio Farda (Tomorrow), the Persian-language division of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty outlet. Islamic Republic authorities regularly block the station and its website, which is based in Prague. Jozeini was also charged with activities against national security and ties to foreigners.
Jozeini was detained at the general ward at Dastgerd Prison for 22 days. On March 1, she was released on bail. In May 2010, Branch 6 of the Revolutionary Court sentenced Jozeini to “two years in prison, suspended for five years, and a two-year ban on journalistic activities.”
Upon her release from prison, managers from the government's official newspaper—appointed by former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration—informed her that she would no longer to be able to write for the publication. She continues to write for Shargh.
This is part of IranWire’s series Crime: Journalism, a portfolio on the legal and political persecution of Iranian journalists and bloggers, published in both Persian and English.
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