A/HRC/34/40 commission is due to replace the independent Association of Iranian Journalists, which was closed down in 2009. 53. In September, the editor-in-chief of Memari News, Yashar Soltani, was reportedly arrested on charges, which included “spreading lies”, after he reported on alleged corruption in the municipal government in Tehran. Sadra Mohaqeq, editor of the Shargh Daily newspaper, was also reportedly arrested in September and described in State-run media as “a collaborator who worked for anti-revolutionary media outlets” outside the country. That same month, a revolutionary court in Tehran reduced a three-year prison sentence it had handed down on journalist Issa Saharkhiz to 21 months. Mr. Saharkhiz, who had previously served as the Deputy Minister of Culture, had been imprisoned from 2009 to 2013 on charges of insulting the Supreme Leader and propaganda against the State. At the time of his arrest, he was contributing to the website Rooz Online. 54. In July, 92 student organizations reportedly wrote an open letter to President Rouhani expressing concern about threats against and intimidation of students after the declaration by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, on 18 June, on the risks of the politicization of students and the responsibility of university officials, senior administrators and academics to ensure a climate favourable to the promotion of Islamic revolutionary principles on campus. Dozens of students expelled from universities for political reasons between 2005 and 2016 had not been allowed to resume their studies at the end of 2016. 55. The Secretary-General welcomes the statement made by President Rouhani in November about the necessity for news media to feel safe while doing their jobs. 22 He recalls that freedom of information and expression is of paramount importance for every society. He urges the authorities to promote and protect the right of individuals to express themselves freely, to refrain from adopting any new legislation which would further restrict freedom of expression and to release all those who have been jailed for having peacefully expressed their opinions. 56. Human rights defenders, lawyers, students, women’s rights activists, journalists and trade unionists, have, however, continued to face restrictions, arrest, conviction and imprisonment for exercising their rights to freedom of association. 57. More than 70 people were reportedly arrested in October 2016 at a peaceful gathering celebrating Cyrus the Great near the ancient city of Pasargadae in the central province of Fars. They were tried in mid-December without legal counsel and were sentenced to prison terms by a branch of the revolutionary court in the city of Shiraz on charges of propaganda against the State, disturbing public order and assembly and collusion against national security.23 58. In December, several people participating in peaceful gatherings were arrested. They included participants in a commemoration of the reported killing of two prominent writers in Emamzadeh Taher cemetery in Karaj. 24 Also in December, riot units of the Tehran security police, plain clothes agents and the Revolutionary Guard Corps from Sarallah headquarters reportedly brutally dispersed families, students and supporters of Mohammad Ali Taheri, who had peacefully gathered in front of Baqiyatallah hospital in Vanak, where Mr. Taheri had reportedly been transferred after several days on hunger strike. 25 At least 15 people, including 2 women and a 16-year-old teenager were arrested, some of them after reportedly having been violently beaten. 22 23 24 25 10 See president.ir/fa/96233. Center for Human Rights in Iran, “Revolutionary court sentences more than 70 Iranians to prison for celebrating ‘Cyrus Day’”, 28 December 2016. Center for Human Rights in Iran, “Iranian lawyer and writers beaten and arrested at commemoration of murders of political dissidents in 1990s”, 5 December 2016. See www.en-hrana.org/mohammad-ali-taheris-students-demonstration-raided-police.