Iran: Journalist Sentenced To Jail
Iranian journalist Mahsa Amrabadi has been sentenced to a prison term for the second time in the past two years.
The Kaleme opposition website reports that Mahsa Amrabadi has been sentenced to five years in jail for “assembly and collusion against national security.” Four years of her sentence is suspended; however, one year of it must be served immediately.
Amrabadi is charged with refusal to denounce opposition leaders MirHosein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, attending the Quran-reading gatherings of political prisoners, giving interviews and writing reports for newspapers, visiting independent members of the clergy and defending the rights of her husband, detained journalist Massoud Bastani.
Amrabadi was arrested for the second time last March by intelligence officers of the Revolutionary Guards and was released on bail.
She was first arrested in June of 2009 during the widespread crackdown on election protesters who claimed the presidential elections were rigged. She was sentenced to one year in prison.
Amrabadi has collaborated with several reformist newspapers.
Her husband, Massoud Bastani, was arrested in the post-election crackdown of 2009 as he was inquiring about the arrest of his wife. Bastani was later sentenced to six years in prison for his journalistic activities.
Journalists became one of the chief targets of post-election crackdown in 2009, and according to the journalists’ rights group Reporters Without Borders, more than 30 journalists and 24 netizens are currently behind bars in Iran.
