A/HRC/28/70 65. Mr. Serajjedin Miramadi, a well-known journalist and relative of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, was arrested in May 2014 after returning from working abroad as a journalist following the inauguration of President Rouhani. He was convicted in July 2014 of “propaganda against the system” and “conspiracy against national security” and was reportedly sentenced to six years in prison. His sentence was reduced to three years on appeal. 66. On 4 June 2014, Ms. Mahnaz Mohammadi was summoned to begin serving a fiveyear prison sentence for “propaganda against the system” and “assembly and collusion against the system.” She was accused of working for foreign media during the run-up to and aftermath of the 2009 presidential election. 67. Washington Post correspondent Mr. Jason Rezaian, who was arrested and detained on 22 July 2014, apparently did not have access to a lawyer during his six months of detention. Authorities would not initially disclose charges against Mr. Rezaian, and while reports now indicate that he may have been charged with espionage in December 2014 or January 2015, official charges — if any — remain unclear. 68. In July 2014, Ms. Sajedeh Arabsorkhi, a journalist and the daughter of a prominent political dissident, began serving a one-year sentence at Evin Prison for “propaganda against the system.”43 69. In August 2014, netizens Ms. Zahra Ka’abi, Mr. Hamid Hekmati, Mr. Ismael Izadi, Mr. Farid Saremi, Mr. Farjad Salehi, and Mr. Ali Chinisaz were arrested. In addition, two directors of privately-owned religious television stations Mr. Hamed Taghipour and Mr. Masoud Behnam, were also arrested.44 70. Mr. Ali Asghar Ghavari of the Bahar publication (which was closed in 2013, granted authority to re-open in 2014, and then closed again in 2015) was apparently summoned in September 2014 to serve the remainder of a prior prison sentence for publishing articles “contrary to Islamic criteria,” “spreading falsehoods,” and publishing articles “against the Constitution,” to which he was convicted by a Press Court. Mr. Ghavari is 73-years-old and apparently in poor health. (Mr. Saeed Pour Aziz of Bahar was also originally sentenced along with Mr. Ghavari, to 91 days in prison and an additional two-year suspended sentence).45 71. Mr. Amar Kalantari of the Free University News Agency was arrested in September 2014, apparently to begin serving a four-year prison sentence from 2009 for “insulting” Government officials.46 72. In October 2014, Mr. Arya Jafari and four other ISNA journalists were arrested for covering protests following the October 2014 acid attacks on several women in Esfahan. The four journalists were released within hours but Mr. Jafari was reportedly detained for a week.47 73. On 29 November 2014, Mr. Ali Ghazali, a journalist who had covered potential cases of corruption involving high-ranking officials, was re-arrested, apparently after a businessman related to a story he covered filed a complaint against him.48 43 44 45 46 47 48 http://www.kaleme.com/1393/09/27/klm-205325/. http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-violations-recounted-23-01-2014,45705.html. Ibid. Ibid. https://cpj.org/2014/10/iran-arrests-journalist-covering-acid-attacks-on-w.php. http://en.iranwire.com/features/6158/. 37