Top reformist figure Mohammadreza Khatami said the first and foremost demand of the “millions of reformists” that went to the polls yesterday is the release of MirHosein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Zahra Rahnavard. The three opposition leaders have been under house arrest since February 2011. Mousavi and Karroubi, presidential candidates in the 2009 election, […]
Tag: election
Iran’s Rohani Leads In Partial Results
Partial results from Iran’s presidential election show moderate cleric Hassan Rohani heading toward a possible first-round victory with just over half the votes. With more than 12 million votes counted, the Interior Ministry said the reformist-backed Rohani had more than 50.3 percent of the June 14 vote. The results show conservative Tehran Mayor Mohammad […]
Harassment, restrictions and censorship limit election coverage
Reporters Without Borders condemns an increase in the Iranian government’s harassment of Iranian journalists in the final days before the 14 June presidential election and the restrictions imposed on the few foreign journalists allowed into the country to cover it. With just two days to go, the Iranian authorities still have not issued visas […]
New briefing reveals crackdown on dissent ahead of election
Iran’s authorities have intensified the clampdown on dissidents ahead of the country’s presidential election on 14 June, Amnesty International said in a new briefing published today.The briefing, Iran: Repression of dissent intensifies in run-up to presidential elections, documents dozens of arbitrary arrests and other human rights abuses in the run-up to election day, targeting […]
Visas Denied for Some Western Reporters, Others Face Difficult Reporting Conditions Inside Iran
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has learned that this week Iranian officials have refused the visa applications of many foreign reporters who had applied to travel to Iran for coverage of the June 14 presidential election. Four reporters from different countries told the Campaign that despite applying for visas up to […]
Iran Accelerates Crackdown on Media and Dissidents Prior to Election
During a June 1 political rally for presidential candidate Hassan Rohani in Tehran (pictured), security forces reportedly arrested several youth campaign workers after slogans were chanted supporting the detained 2009 election opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. Photo credit: Siamak Ebrahimi/Tasnim News (June 10, 2013) Iranian authorities should immediately stop censoring newspapers and news websites, […]
Iranian journalists cry out against web interference
A group of Iranian journalists and reporters is speaking out against the censorship of content on news websites. The Mehr News Agency published the group’s statement on June 8. It denounces the “rising incidence of unregulated restrictions” on active websites. The announcement indicates that on several occasions in the past year, “unauthorized individuals” have […]
Securitized View Over Foreign Journalists
Iran’s minister of Islamic guidance Mohammad Hosseini, who oversees the country’s media activities, asked the country’s security apparatus to strengthen its supervision on the entry of foreign journalists into Iran. He announced the reason for the call to be the presence of an Israeli journalist who was in the country without the knowledge of […]
Iran announces arrest of election saboteurs
Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence announced on Saturday June 1 that it has identified a team of troublemakers on a “mission to sabotage” the 11th presidential elections. The announcement states: “In addition to the identification and arrest of the members of this terrorist cell, their weapons stockpile has been discovered and confiscated.” According to the […]
Candidate criticizes last election, current climate
Iranian presidential candidate Mohammadreza Aref spoke about the 2009 election during a radio program, saying: “In the election of 2009, there were overt violations and inappropriate endorsements.” The 2009 election result was challenged by the reformist candidates, who alleged it had been rigged in favour of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iran’s Supreme Leader denied the allegations […]