Iran: Journalist summoned to serve 8-month jail sentence

Nima Saffar, a journalist and prominent author in Iran, has been summoned to Gorgan prison to serve an 8-month jail term. According to his Instagram profile, he has been denied access to his medicines. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) strongly condemned his imprisonment and urges officials to grant him access to proper health care.

Credit: Instagram

According to an Instagram post from 8 January, the writer was summoned to jail in the city of Gorgan, northern Iran. Prison officials are making it difficult for his friends and family to deliver him his medicine, and Saffar has been placed in quarantine in conditions that are not suitable for his health. According to a friend, Saffar will be allowed to receive medicine after a visit to the doctor. Thusfar, the prison officials have delayed such a visit by saying the doctor is not available.

Nima Saffar was arrested in Gorgan in November 2015, by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). After a month of interrogations, he was released on bail. Two years later, he was sentenced to 80 days in prison by a local court. After serving his term, he was indicted again on the same charges in March 2019, including “ spreading falsehoods” on social media. A lower court then sentenced him to eight months in prison.

He had been working with various publications and news websites in the Golestan province, including “Salim” and “Golshan Mehr”.

In August last year, the  IFJ strongly denounced the extremely high jail sentences handed out to Iranian journalists Marzieh Amiri (10 and a half years), Masoud Kazemi (4 and a half years) and Kiumars Marzban (23 years and nine months).

IFJ General Secretary, Anthony Bellanger said: “The government of Iran seems to be in a vendetta against any form of critical thinking by the Iranian people. It is unacceptable to charge an individual twice for the same charges, which were outrageous to begin with. We call on the Iranian authorities to stop jailing journalists for doing their jobs and reporting the truth.” 

For more information, please contact IFJ on +32 2 235 22 16

The IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 146 countries

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