WAN-IFRA

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The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the World Editors Forum have called on the Iranian government to immediately release all jailed journalists and end its crackdown on the media that began after the disputed 2009 election.

In a letter to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, WAN-IFRA, which represents 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries, protested against the arrest of at least 11 journalists late last month and the continued detention of more than 20 others.

The recent arrests, which occurred between 27 and 30 December, followed demonstrations arising from the commemoration of the Shiite religious day of Ashura and the death of Ayatollah Hossein Montazeri, an influential cleric and government critic.

Among those arrested were Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, the former editor the Jame'eh and Tous newspapers, who was arrested at home by police officers holding a blank arrest warrant, and Emadeddin Baghi, an author, journalist and human rights activist. Both have served several years in jail for criticising the authorities.

"The arrests represent a further intensifying of the government's crackdown on the media since the disputed June 2009 election," said the letter to President Ahmadinejad.

Among the more than 30 journalists in prison is Ahmad Zeid-Abadi, who was recently, awarded the 2010 Golden Pen of Freedom by WAN-IFRA. In August, Mr. Zeid-Abadi was sentenced to six years in prison, five years in internal exile in the town of Gonabad and a lifetime writing ban on charges of plotting to overthrow the clerical theocracy with a 'soft revolution'.

The letter called for the release of all jailed journalists and an immediate end to the government's crackdown against the media.