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


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