Reporters Without Borders Disclose Documents from Iran’s Prisons and Courts
On Thursday, February 7, Reporters Without Borders organization published a report based on its evidence including an official document from Islamic Republic’s Judiciary which states: “Between the years of 1980 and 2009, at least 860 reporters and citizen journalists have been arrested in Iran and many have been executed. This document was sent to Reporters Without Borders from an anonymous source.
On Wednesday, a day before this report, the organization disclosed a computer file which revealed documented details of “arrests, imprisonments, and executions in Tehran”.
According to Reporters Without Borders: “The file consists of 1.7 million names of citizens from all walks of life and backgrounds, including men, women, children, religious and ethnic minorities, regular prisoners, and political prisoners, the latter consisting of political dissidents, journalists, and citizen journalists.”
According to the report, for the first time, there is hard proof that the Islamic Republic Judiciary has tried to “manipulate or misrepresent the truth about the conditions and charges of journalists and political prisoners.”
In another part of the report, it is mentioned that “the file never mentions the fact that the accused were journalists”, and that is why “the Islamic Republic boldly claims on international platforms that there are no journalists or ideological or political prisoners in its prisons.”
According to the Reporters Without Borders, the goal of the state from this lie is to “silence the critics” and “deceive the international human rights organizations”. Through this method, the reporters and citizen journalists are falsely charged with fake accusations such as “acts against national security”, “propaganda against the regime”, “cooperation with enemy states” and insulting the supreme leader or the founder of the regime”.
Another case mentioned in the report is the number of Bahai victims. According to the report, “5760 Bahai citizens in Tehran alone” have been persecuted, imprisoned, or executed for the charge of “membership in the corrupt cult of Bahaism”.
The report has been confirmed by a committee consisting of prominent human rights figures and former prisoners.