Maziar Bahari, a journalist of Iranian origin who lives in London, has reported that an Iranian court has sentenced him in absentia to 13.5 years imprisonment and to 74 blows of a cane. Bahari, who writes for Newsweek from London said that “the conviction tells more about the Iranian regime than about me.” The charges against Bahari include humiliating the President (Ahmadinejad) and the Supreme Leader (Homeini) and for disrupting public order. Bahara filmed a demonstration in Teheran that developed into a violent confrontation between the security forces and the public demonstrators. “I was told that to report such an event incites the public to rebel against the government.”
On June 21, 2009 Bahari was taken out of his bed to jail. In a gripping detailed report of his imprisonment, tortures and release published in Newsweek, Bahari describes "I would later discover that I had been picked up by the intelligence division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC. Before the June election, this unit of the Guards was little known. The IRGC reports directly to Khamenei and has been growing dramatically more powerful. Many suspect that the Guards rigged the election. Certainly they led the crackdown that followed.
"IRGC intel is now responsible for Iran's internal security, which means that its rampaging paranoias have suffused the regime. There remain players within the system who can make rational decisions about Iran's international interests; if there weren't, I would still be in jail. But the Guards are exacerbating the Islamic Republic's worst instincts, its insecurity and deep suspiciousness."
Bahari spent nearly four months in jail but was released on bail of 3 billion rials ($300,000) and allowed to leave the country to join his British wife in London in October.
Bahari's sentencing occurred on the same day that five Kurdish activists were hanged following their conviction of membership of armed opposition groups and involvement in bombings. The five were sentenced to death in 2008 after they were found guilty of "Moharebeh," a term Iran uses to describe a major crime against Islam and the state. Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi was quoted as warning the executions were part of an "unfair trend" against activists following the election.
Sources:
The Epoch Times, Israeli edition (May 18-26) Weekly issue #162. (Translated from the Hebrew)
Bahari, Maziar (November 30, 2009). 118 days, 12 hours, 54 minutes. Newsweek.
Please click on the following link to read the whole article http://www.newsweek.com/id/223862
The Seattle Times (May 12, 2010). Iran sentences Newsweek journalist in absentia http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2011833720&zsection_id=2003905675&slug=apmlirannewsweekreporter&date=20100511
On June 21, 2009 Bahari was taken out of his bed to jail. In a gripping detailed report of his imprisonment, tortures and release published in Newsweek, Bahari describes "I would later discover that I had been picked up by the intelligence division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC. Before the June election, this unit of the Guards was little known. The IRGC reports directly to Khamenei and has been growing dramatically more powerful. Many suspect that the Guards rigged the election. Certainly they led the crackdown that followed.
"IRGC intel is now responsible for Iran's internal security, which means that its rampaging paranoias have suffused the regime. There remain players within the system who can make rational decisions about Iran's international interests; if there weren't, I would still be in jail. But the Guards are exacerbating the Islamic Republic's worst instincts, its insecurity and deep suspiciousness."
Bahari spent nearly four months in jail but was released on bail of 3 billion rials ($300,000) and allowed to leave the country to join his British wife in London in October.
Bahari's sentencing occurred on the same day that five Kurdish activists were hanged following their conviction of membership of armed opposition groups and involvement in bombings. The five were sentenced to death in 2008 after they were found guilty of "Moharebeh," a term Iran uses to describe a major crime against Islam and the state. Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi was quoted as warning the executions were part of an "unfair trend" against activists following the election.
Sources:
The Epoch Times, Israeli edition (May 18-26) Weekly issue #162. (Translated from the Hebrew)
Bahari, Maziar (November 30, 2009). 118 days, 12 hours, 54 minutes. Newsweek.
Please click on the following link to read the whole article http://www.newsweek.com/id/223862
The Seattle Times (May 12, 2010). Iran sentences Newsweek journalist in absentia http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2011833720&zsection_id=2003905675&slug=apmlirannewsweekreporter&date=20100511
