Daniel Brett
Iran has begun a campaign to intimidate, imprison and even execute writers and journalists from non-Persian ethnic groups in an attempt to remove the ethnic issue off the political agenda ahead of next year’s presidential elections. Yet, Tehran’s actions against these moderate campaigning journalists could spur the very separatist sentiment it seeks to repress.
This week the international media freedom group Reporters Without Borders called for the Iranian government to drop its case against prominent Ahwazi Arab journalist Youssef Azizi Bani Torouf after he was this month sentenced to five years in prison for ‘threatening national security’. Azizi’s ‘crime’ was to condemn excessive force by security services against Arab demonstrators in April 2005, in which up to 160 unarmed civilians were killed over a number of days of rioting.
‘President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is systematically exploiting the judicial system to crack down on journalists from the minority communities, for whom they often act as spokesperson,’ the organisation said.
Azizi worked for 12 years for the daily Hamshari newspaper, currently works for foreign Arabic news publications and has authored a number of books in Farsi and Arabic which have earned him plaudits in Iran and the Arab world. Although the Iranian government has attempted to tie him to separatist movements it alleges are sponsored by Israel, Britain, the US and Saudi Arabia, Azizi has consistently stated that the ‘Arabs of Khuzestan, as a nation or an ethnic group are an inseparable part of the Iranian nation.’
Azizi’s case is part of a growing trend in Iran against journalists from Arab, Azeri, Balochi and Kurdish ethnic groups, which have become increasingly restive amid claims of cultural persecution and discrimination. Reporters Without Borders has also drawn attention to the cases of other minority journalists held in prison in what it describes as an ‘outrageous gagging policy’. They include Azeri journalist Said Matinpour of the leading Azeri weekly newspaper Yarpagh, who was given an eight year suspended sentence for ‘having dealings with foreigners’ and for ‘publicity against the government’.
Several Kurdish journalists are currently detained, including Kaveh Javanmard, Adnan Hassanpour and Ejlal Qavami. Kurdish journalist Mohammad Sadegh Kabovand was also sentenced to 11 years in the notorious Evin prison for ‘threatening national security’ after he set up the Kurdish Human Rights Organization (RMMK). He was also the editor of Payam-e Mardom-e Kurdestan (Kurdistan People's Message), a weekly newspaper published in Kurdish and Persian which was banned on 27 June 2004 after only 13 issues for 'disseminating separatist ideas and publishing false reports'. He was originally given an 18 month suspended sentence, but this sentence has progressively lengthened as more charges are brought against him in order to ensure his silence.
Like Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand, minority journalists who have been convicted of such crimes have often found that additional charges are later brought against them in an effort to ensure their silence. Sometimes the price of silence is their lives. Earlier this month Yaghub Mehrnahad, a 28 year old Balochi journalist and cultural activist, was finally executed following months of torture. He had criticised the regime’s treatment of the Balochi ethnic group and formed the Javanan Sedayeh Edalat (Youth Voice of Justice) non-governmental organisation, which was recognised and registered by the Iranian government. The group organised events such as music concerts and educational courses for young Balochis and also tackled issues such as the spread of AIDS and other diseases and supporting healthcare for Balochi women and children.
There was no official announcement of the death sentence nor the charges brought against him, with his trial held in secret and without legal representation. The local media claimed he had links with the Balochi armed group Jundullah (Army of God) after he criticised the treatment of Balochis during a conference. The Iranians claim the Jundullah is financed and organised by the CIA, but has failed to prove any association between Mehrnahad and the alleged US campaign to split Iran along ethnic lines. Yet, the decision to execute him has puzzled many human rights activists as he had never advocated violence and Jundullah denied he had any association with the group.
State repression of ethnic minority journalists goes hand in hand with the violent harassment of non-Persian minorities, who together comprise at least half Iran’s population. The campaign to silence these free-thinking journalists demonstrates that Tehran will not broach even the mildest expression of ethnic discontent.
At the same time, nearly all foreign journalists and Western nationals are banned from visiting areas where non-Persian groups are in the majority, particularly Khuzestan and Balochistan. It is also evidence of endemic paranoia of a regime that is intent on seeing its critics as Zionist agents, British and American imperialists or Wahhabis in order to shift the blame for growing ethnic unrest. But the actions against minority journalists also belie the Iranian Constitution, which enshrines cultural and linguistic rights. The regime’s actions against these campaigning journalists suggest that the exercise of these rights is an existential challenge to the political system and, by extension, represents enmity with god. By silencing the voices of moderates, Tehran is playing into the hands of separatists who used repression as proof that non-Persian groups cannot win freedom and equality while remaining a part of Iran.
* Daniel Brett is a freelance journalist and publisher specialising in emerging markets and geopolitical issues, working with a number of leading business intelligence and security organizations. |
