Iranian Authorities Urged to Free Jailed Radio Journalist Shahrabi

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged the Iranian authorities to immediately release a journalist who was arrested last week on unknown charges amid a crackdown on dissent and the media.

“Iranian authorities must free journalist Sajjad Shahrabi immediately and unconditionally and cease the practice of arbitrarily locking up members of the press,” CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna said in a statement on May 8. 

“Shahrabi’s detention shows, shamefully, that authorities do not find it necessary to disclose even a minimum of details about why a reporter has been arrested,” he added.

Shahrabi is a reporter and radio host for the state-owned outlet Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB). He also hosts a weekly satirical sports program for the state-run Radiojavan.ir.

He was reportedly arrested on May 3, after security forces raided his father’s house in Tehran and confiscated his and his family’s personal and electronic items, including the journalist’s computer and notebook.

Shahrabi is currently detained in Tehran’s Evin Prison. 

CPJ said it had been unable to determine why the journalist was arrested or whether he had been formally charged.

According to the New York-based media freedom watchdog,  at least three other journalists have been arrested in Iran since mid-April. 

Dozens of journalists have been arrested since anti-government protests erupted across the country following the September death in police custody of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini.