_______________________

Iran arrests journalists, to execute bloggers


Commentary Staff Writer –  Joel Gehrke

Iranian courts have sentenced two bloggers to death for “spreading corruption,” and government security forces have arrested four other journalists, in the lead-up to the nation’s March elections.

“In the past two weeks, security forces have reportedly arrested four journalists,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement, “including Shahram Manouchehri, Sahamedin Bourghani, Parastoo Dokouhaki, and Marzieh Rasouli, and Iranian courts confirmed death sentences for bloggers Saeed Malekpour and Vahid Asghari, both of whom were not accorded due process and now face imminent execution on charges of ‘spreading corruption.'”

The State Department faulted Iran for trying “to extinguish all forms of free expression and limit its citizens’ access to information in the lead-up to March parliamentary elections.”

Read more: http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/iran-arrests-journalists-execute-bloggers/341821

More from Beliefnet and our partners
Close Ad