Iran's Fear of Journalists and Intellects
by Jennifer Wong
Picture this: your favorite television reporter, radio speaker or print journalist is arrested for accurately covering news that reflects poorly on the U.S. government, or for what the Iranian government would call "propaganda against the regime." It is a scenario hard to picture for anyone residing within the United States who has grown up with the concept of freedom of speech expressed everywhere from the evening news to the opinion section of the local newspaper to comedians and television programs poking fun at the shortcomings of our political leaders.
Though the United States may not be an ideal model to look to for the upholding of human rights (Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib are among some of the embarrassing recent examples of this country's human rights violations), at least people around the world are able to access information, both positive and negative, about the U.S. government and its actions. Journalists are given the right to criticize or compliment the happenings within the U.S, and publish their findings.
Furthermore, with the popularity of internet blogs and podcasts rising exponentially, anybody with an opinion and access to a computer can also voice their criticisms about the United States. Sadly, the same cannot be said about Iran. Though Iran is slowly giving its citizens more social freedoms particularly in regards to the Islamic dress code and women's rights, it still has a long way to go.
Journalist Parnaz Azima, who works for the U.S-funded Radio Farda, is among one of the four Iranian-Americans who have been detained within the last few months by the Iranian government on charges of spying. Although Azima has recently been released on bail, she is not allowed to leave the country. In an interview with BBC News, Azima’s lawyer, Shirin Ebadi, points out how Azima's steep bail (set at ten times more than bail for an accused rapist) reflects the influence of Iranian politics within the judiciary system.
Ebadi has also been unable to get in contact with another detainee, academic Haleh Esfandiari. Esfandiari is the director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. In a phone call, Esfandiari requested Ebadi as her lawyer, but the Iranian judiciary has since prevented contact between the two, violating the basic right to an attorney and a proper defense. The other two Iranian-Americans also being detained are urban planning consultant, Kian Tajbakhsh and peace activist, Ali Shakeri. Tehran claims that the U.S. is using journalists and intellectuals to upstage Iranian law and bring about a revolution, but the U.S. insists that those detained were in Iran for personal or professional business only.
The government of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad is trying to scare Iranian-Americans from exercising their right to free speech. The freedoms they are given in the U.S are then used against them when they try to visit their families or conduct business in Iran. The Iranian government is also scaring its own citizens into silence by enforcing strict media censorship rules.
It is the right of Iranian citizens to have access to all different opinions, whether from the news media or from the academic world, and to pass judgment themselves on what is valid. It is also the right of citizens from around the world to know what is going on in Iran - what happens abroad will have repercussions at home. It is a violation of human rights standards for the Iranian government to jail the four Iranian-Americans simply on the bogus claim that they are undermining the current government. Even if that were true, they should still have the right to express critical opinions without being labeled as spies staging a coup. Ironically, by suppressing the four Iranian-Americans and its own people, Iran is perpetuating what they had hoped to prevent: more negative publicity in the international arena.
Sources:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6237338.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6751819.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6713473.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6710255.stm
