(NCRI) and (PMOI / MEK Iran): International Federation of Journalists calls for an end to repression of media activists in Iran.
On Monday, 17 May, female journalist Faezeh Momeni was beaten by a security officer at the Saei Complex Vaccination Center, which is run by Beheshti University of Medical Sciences.
Repression of a female journalist
After the female journalist refused to delete the interviews, she had conducted with vaccination centre employees in Tehran, the security agent assaulted her, fracturing one of her fingers. Following the attack, the journalist required surgery.
Faezeh Momeni described the incident in a TV interview, saying she went to the immunisation centre to report on the work process.
She explained, “I took out my press card, showed it to the locals, and said I was a reporter who wanted to report on problems.” “They were extremely friendly. ‘You can ask him your questions,’ I was told when I was referred to the Ministry of Health inspector. The inspector from the Ministry of Health spoke in with a restriction.”
(NCRI) and (PMOI / MEK Iran): A woman journalist who worked for the state-run Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) was fired on April 21, 2020. Zeinab Rahimi, an environmental reporter, was fired for criticizing the Director of Public Relations at the Iranian Department of the Environment.
A female journalist was beaten
“I was there for an hour and a half,” Faezeh Momeni said about the beating by the security guard. The agent requested me to hand over my cell phone and delete all of the interviews as I was leaving. ‘You came here illegally,’ he remarked. ‘I had not entered illegally,’ I said. I have a press card, I have a licence, this is a public location, and the people I spoke with agreed.”
“As I was walking out, the agent grabbed me,” she continued. At the same time, he grabbed the bag on my right shoulder and dragged me away by my hand. When I yanked my hand free, I noticed that my index finger was bent and crumpled… My hand was broken.”
“I informed him that my hand was broken. ‘No, you have to erase the interviews, or I will not let you go out,’ he said. On 19 May, Momeni told the state-run Shahrara News website.
The state-run Rouydad24 reported, “A broken and pinned hand is the result of a journalist’s effort to write and tell us what is going on in the vaccination centre.”
(NCRI) and (PMOI / MEK Iran): Faezeh Momeni described the incident in a TV interview, saying she went to the immunisation centre to report on the work process.
Calls for end to repression
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Secretary-General, Anthony Belanger, made a statement calling for the offender in the beating of female journalist Faezeh Momeni to stand prosecution. “The Iranian government must immediately put an end to its crackdown on the media and stop prosecuting journalists who are simply doing their jobs,” he added.
“Iran has executed thousands of men and women since 1979, including a score of journalists who were all convicted by unfair courts,” said Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Secretary-General Christophe Deloire about press freedom in Iran. Sentencing prisoners of conscience, including journalists, to death, is the most extreme way to suppress freedom of expression. It is past time for the Islamic Republic to forsake these barbaric punishments of the past,” Published the RSF on 9 October 2020.
(NCRI) and (PMOI / MEK Iran): Kowsar Karimi, the female journalist who first reported on the destruction of Abolfazl village in Khuzestan was arrested. The International Federation of Journalists reported this on August 29, 2020.
Kowsar Karimi is accused of “propaganda against the state”
(NCRI) and (PMOI / MEK Iran): Women of Abolfazl village stood up to state agents who attempted to destroy their homes.
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