Saturday, July 12, 2014

Noam Chomsky calls on Iran to release imprisoned journalist Marzieh Rasouli

By Saeed Kamli Dehghan:

The US philosopher Noam Chomsky has called on Iran to release the female journalist Marzieh Rasouli who was jailed last week to endure a sentence of 50 lashes and two years in prison.

Chomsky told the Guardian that the detention of Rasouli and at least three other female journalists in the past two months was "entirely unacceptable", urging Hassan Rouhani's administration to swiftly act for their release. Saba Azarpeik and Reyhaneh Tabatabaei are among other journalists arrested recently.

"I was surprised and distressed to learn of the detention and harsh treatment of Marzieh Rasouli and other women journalists in Iran," Chomsky told the Guardian. "Surely such actions are entirely unacceptable, and I hope and trust that they will quickly be released and compensated for their unjust punishment."

Read more here in Guardian:


http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/12/noam-chomsky-iran-release-imprisoned-journalist-marzieh-rasouli

Friday, July 11, 2014

Photos of Marzieh Rasouli, for media and social media use

If you would like to cover the news of Marzieh Rasouli's incarceration, you can use these photos we have shared in this photo album in Google Plus:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/113113953638855249264/albums/6034145623179170593


For more information about her feel free to contact us:
free.parastoo.marzieh@gmail.com

New York Times: Iranian Reporter Faces 2 Years in Prison and 50 Lashes

"She was initially arrested in January 2012, along with two colleagues, and detained for more than a month and interrogated about what was said to be her cooperation with BBC Persian, a channel staffed mainly by Iranian expatriates in London. She was later released on bail.  BBC Persian has repeatedly stressed that it has “no staff members or stringers working inside Iran,” but its news broadcasts, offering an alternative source of information to state television, enrage hard-liners in the Islamic Republic. One of people initially detained with Ms. Rasouli was the sister of a BBC Persian journalist."

Read more here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/09/world/middleeast/iranian-arts-reporter-faces-2-years-in-prison-and-50-lashes.html

Guardian: Rasouli the latest journalist imprisoned by Islamic republic for 'spreading propaganda' against the government

From Guardian:

Jason Stern from the New York Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) told the Guardian he was shocked by Rasouli's imprisonment.

"The sad truth is the imprisonment of journalists by the dozens has become normal for Iran ever since the government launched an unprecedented crackdown on the press after the 2009 elections," he said.

"That crackdown has not slowed in the past year, with CPJ documenting a series of arrests and prosecutions of journalists. Now Iran is on track to reclaim the title of the world's worst jailer of journalists this year."

Read more here:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/08/iran-journalist-prison-lashes-propaganda-government?CMP=twt_gu

Mashable: Iranian Journalist Gets 50 Lashes and 2 Years in Prison for 'Propaganda'

None of her friends and family, who launched a website in support of her cause in 2012, believed this was going to happen, according to a close friend of Rasouli, who spoke to Mashable on condition of remaining anonymous for her and Rasouli's safety.

"She didn't even have time to say goodbye to her family," the friend said. "She couldn't say goodbye to her mom and dad. She was shocked."

Read more in Mashable:



Thursday, July 10, 2014

Marzieh Rasouli jailed, again



Iranian journalist Marzieh Rasouli walked to prison on Tuesday 8 July. She had been summoned a day earlier to serve her sentence of 'two years plus fifty lashes', passed by a court of appeal for 'propaganda against the state and disrupting public order through participation in rallies'.

Marzieh was first to break all this in twitter. She noted the 'rush' in calling her to Evin before even the verdict from the court of appeal could be delivered.

Ms Rasouli was first arrested in January 2012. She spent six weeks in 'temporary detention', partly in solitary confinement, during which she was pressured to confess she had worked for the BBC. A film was later aired on Iran's state TV in which Rasouli and a number of other journalists talked to the camera, and were accused of 'unlawful contact with foreign media'. The BBC has repeatedly said it does not work with journalists inside Iran, including Ms Rasouli.

In March 2012, Ms Rasouli was released on bail. One year later she was sentenced to two years in prison and fifty lashes for taking part in protests after the disputed 2009 elections. A court of appeal upheld the ruling.

Marzieh Rasouli wrote mostly about arts and culture. She began her work as a journalist with ISNA in 2001 and later joined a number of so-called reformist newspapers, the latest of which where Etemad and Shargh. She also kept a popular blog in Farsi, Three Days Earlier.


For more information about Marzieh Rasouli, please contact:
free.parastoo.marzieh@gmail.com


مرضیه رسولی دوباره زندانی شد

مرضیه رسولی، روزنامه‌نگار ایرانی، سه شنبه ۱۷ تیر برای اجرای حکم دو سال حبس تعزیری و ۵۰ ضربه شلاق به زندان اوین رفت. "تبلیغ علیه نظام و اخلال در نظم عمومی از طریق شرکت در تجمعات" از اتهاماتی است که علیه خانم رسولی مطرح شده بود.

مرضیه رسولی یک روز قبل از زندانی شدن در توییترخود نوشت که پیش از ابلاغ تایید حکم اولیه در دادگاه تجدیدنظر، از او خواسته‌اند که خود را برای اجرای حکم به دادسرای اوین معرفی کند.

خانوم رسولی در زمستان ۱۳۹۰ به اتهام اقدام علیه امنیت ملی بازداشت شد و شش هفته در زندانهای تحت کنترل سپاه پاسداران بازجویی می‌شد. او بخش زیادی از این مدت  را در سلول انفرادی گذراند و تحت فشار بود که به همکاری با رسانه‌هایی از جمله بی‌بی‌سی فارسی اعتراف کند. بی‌بی‌سی‌ همواره ارتباط با روزنامه‌نگاران در ایران از جمله مرضیه رسولی را تکذیب کرده است.

کمی پس از بازداشت خانم رسولی، فیلمی در تلویزیون دولتی ایران از او و چند روزنامه‌نگار دیگر پخش شد که در آن اتهاماتی چون ارتباط غیرقانونی با رسانه‌های خارجی علیه آنها مطرح شد.

رسولی بعد از شش هفته بازداشت در اسفند ماه ۱۳۹۰ با وثیقه ۳۰۰ میلیون تومانی آزاد شد و یک سال بعد در دادگاه اولیه به دوسال حبس تعزیری و پنجاه ضربه شلاق به دلیل تبلیغ علیه نظام و شرکت در تجمعات پس از انتخابات سال ۱۳۸۸ متهم شد.

تایید حکم محکومیت خانوم رسولی در دادگاه تجدید نظر هنوز به صورت کتبی به او ابلاغ نشده است اما سه روز پیش در تماس تلفنی وکیلش به او اطلاع داده شد که باید برای اجرای حکم به زندان اوین مراجعه کند.

مرضیه رسولی کار مطبوعاتی را از خبرگزاری ایسنا شروع کرد و در ۱۳ سال گذشته برای روزنامه‌های معروف به اصلاح‌طلب از جمله شرق و اعتماد کار کرد. یادداشتها و گزارشهای او بیشتر در حوزه فرهنگ، موسیقی و نقد کتاب هستند.