Iran Cracks Down on Journalists Ahead of Elections
Omid Memarian talks to reporters in Iran who escaped arrest about the most aggressive raid on independent media since 2009, and about attempts to sever contact with the outside world.
Fourteen journalists in Iran were arrested this weekend [Jan. 26-27], and while Iranian officials say the mass arrests were not a result of the reporters’ “journalism activities” but security-related, reporters inside the country tell another story.
One reporter told Al-Monitor that intelligence is suspicious of the journalists' connections to Persian-speaking media outside Iran, and the arrests were meant to cut all such ties to the outside world.
