IV. Limits on Freedoms of Expression

Journalists and Publications

After the events of the summer of 2005, officials began closing publications and targeting journalists who covered Ghaderi's killing and the ensuing protests.[19] Courts have banned at least six daily and weekly bilingual Persian and Kurdish publications such as Payam-e Mardom (People's Message), Ashti (Befriend), Asu (Horizon), Rozhe Helat (East), Payam-e Kurdistan (Kurdistan Message), and Didgah (Viewpoint).  The government also arrested numerous journalists and others associated with these publications, and convicted at least 38 following unfair trials. Some of these were before Revolutionary Courts, established in 1979 to try alleged offenses against national security, slandering the founder of the Islamic Republic and the Supreme Leader, and smuggling narcotics. (A list of journalists persecuted for their work with local Kurdish publications appears in Appendix 1).

Bahram Valad-Beigi, the editor-in-chief of the bilingual Persian and Kurdish daily Ashti, was among the prosecuted journalists interviewed for this report.[20] The authorities tried Valad-Beigi, along with the paper's general manager, Barhan Lahnoni, in July and October of 2007 in a Penal Court of the province of Kurdistan.[21] This trial was one of the few judged by a jury, as required by Iranian law.[22]

The accusations the government brought against Valad-Beigi included "sharing the ideology of Barzani" and "running a paper that is not independent."[23]

According to Valad-Beigi's defense statements, obtained by Human Rights Watch, the government also charged him and Ashti with "disturbing the public opinion by publishing lies and articles aimed at stirring trouble and ethnic and racial conflict" and "covering developments and news in Iraqi Kurdistan." Article 6 of the Press Law provides the legal basis for the latter charge: it prohibits publishing material that "creates discord between and among social walks of life, especially by raising ethnic and racial issues."[24]

In his official court defense, Valad-Beigi responded:

Is coverage of well-known developments in Iraqi Kurdistan, issues of federalism which are accepted in our neighboring country's Constitution, or the presence of Masoud Barzani, Jalal Talabani, Nichirivan Barzani on the Iraqi political scenes lies? Is covering the meetings of Abd al-Aziz Hakim, Ibrahim Jafari, and Muqtada Sadr considered "publishing lies"? How come one is forbidden and the other allowed? In publishing material about Iraqi Kurdistan our only goal has been to transparently provide information. Both before and after the revolution, Iran has for many years hosted the leaders of Iraqi Kurdistan. ... The precedence of publishing news about Iraqi Kurdistan is not limited to our paper, and its history goes back to before the revolution.[25]

On December 3, 2007, a branch of the Penal Court in the province of Kurdistan banned Ashti and ordered Valad-Beigi to pay a fine of 100,000 Toman (approximately 100 USD). On April 9, 2008, Branch 27 of the Supreme Court upheld the fine, but revoked the ban on the paper; according to Valad-Beigi, Ashti has not resumed publication.[26]

The accusations against Valad-Beigi are typical of those brought against journalists and publications in the Kurdish regions. Authorities arrested Asu Saleh, another Kurdish journalist, on similar charges on multiple occasions. In the summer of 2005, the Public Prosecutor's Court in Sanandaj summoned Saleh to appear on charges of "publishing lies" in the weekly Dang (Voice). Saleh remained free on bail while authorities investigated his case for one year, after which the court convicted him of the charge and sentenced him to six months in prison.[27]

Asu Saleh told Human Rights Watch that pressure by the Ministry of Information got him fired from another paper, the weekly bilingual Kurdish-Persian Didgah:

When I started working for Didgah, in Sanandaj, my colleagues chose me as a member of the writers' council and manager of the Kurdish section of this weekly. From that point, pressure from the Ministry of Information intensified. Many times the ministry threatened that unless Ejlal Ghavami [manager of the Persian section] and I are fired, the weekly would be banned. Unfortunately, the ministry made good on its threats. Didgah wasbanned and both Ejlal Ghavami and I were detained.[28]

On June 24, 2007, Branch 5 of the Public Prosecutor's Court in Sanandaj accused Saleh of "acting against national security," "propaganda against the state," "agitating youth to participate in illegal gatherings," and "working with opposition groups." [29] In August of 2007, the court sentenced him to one year in prison, after he had fled the country.[30]

In November of 2007, Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj summoned Saleh on charges of "spying."[31] The court has yet to announce any action on these charges, but this same court routinely summons Asu's father and questions him about his son's activities.[32]

Hossein Ahmadiniyaz and Jalil Azadikhah, the general manager and editor respectively of the Persian and Kurdish bilingual weekly Asu, also faced harassment following the July 2005 protests in Mahahbad. One week after the protests, the intelligence section of the security forces of the Kurdistan province lodged official complaints against the publication, resulting in an immediate government ban on its publication and charges of "publishing lies with the intent to disturb the public mind" and "acting against national security." In March 2006, Branch 104 of the Penal Court of Sanandaj convicted Hossein Ahmadiniyaz of these charges and ordered him to pay a fine.[33]

Mohammad Sadigh Kaboudvand is another Kurdish journalist who has faced government suppression of his writings. Over the last several years, authorities have persecuted him as a result of the activities of the Organization for the Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan, a human rights organization he founded in April 2005 to produce reports about violations in Kurdish areas (see below).  Kaboudvand was also the owner, general manager, and editor of the Persian language weekly Payam-e Mardom. The paper ran for thirteen issues before the Ministry of Information lodged a complaint based on its coverage of the July 2005 events. Prior to that, in April 2005, the Public Prosecutor's Court in Sanandaj gave him a suspended one-year sentence after convicting him of "creating splits among groups of people by raising tribal and racial issues." The court also banned him from practicing journalism and from owning or managing newspapers for five years, and revoked Payam-e Mardom's publication permit. One year later, in April 2006, a branch of the Appeals Court in the province of Kurdistan upheld his sentence and converted it to one he had to serve in prison. Kaboudvand's lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court, which in September 2006 upheld the Appeals Court's ruling.[34]

The government is highly sensitive to any local coverage about factions of the Komala/Kurdistan Democratic Party because of their past involvement in separatist campaigns, or developments concerning the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) of Turkey. Saman Rasoulpour, a human rights activist and journalist, documented many cases where the government harassed local publications for covering such news and the government prosecuted him for his peaceful activities.[35] On January 30, 2006, authorities arrested Rasoulpour under a warrant issued by the judge of Branch Two of the Revolutionary Court in Mahabad. In March 2006, the court convicted him on charges of "publishing lies" and "acting against national security," and sentenced him to two years in prison in Ardibil, a city 174 miles away from Mahabad. After he had served seven months, the Supreme Court suspended the remainder of his sentence on appeal. Since his release in September of 2007, Rasoulpour resumed his human rights work and his journalism with Persian-language internet publications.[36]  According to Rasoulpour, authorities have continued to harass him by periodically summoning him for questioning or making threatening phone calls to his home.[37]

In November 2007, Rasoulpour wrote to Human Rights Watch,

In the last two years, hundreds of Kurdish citizens have been detained and convicted for working with various Kurdish parties. If "acting against national security" has become a threadbare accusation in Tehran, in Kurdish areas activists usually face the accusation of "working with opposition groups." These accusations are frequently exaggerated and mostly merely intended for building cases against people. At the current time, most Kurdish publications have been banned and the media environment in this area is stagnant. A quiet like that of a cemetery rules over the media space.[38]

As a result of Rasoulpour's activities, specifically his work on behalf another detained Kurdish activist, Farzad Kamangar (see below), Ministry of Information agents again arrested him on or about July 27, 2008, on charges of "distributing propaganda against the state"; he was released on August 13 after posting bail of 100 million toman (US$10,500).[39]

According to Rasoulpour, lower courts usually hand down heavy sentences to journalists.[40] While these sentences are often reduced on appeal, some journalists and activists choose to flee the country rather than risk long term imprisonment.[41] (See, for example, the cases of Roya Toloue and Asu Saleh.)

Books and Authors

In the book publishing industry, publishers and writers also struggle in the face of governmental restrictions. Iranian law requires that all books obtain a publication permit from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Publishers must submit requests for permits first to the provincial office of the ministry; the provincial office then sends the application materials to the ministry headquarters in Tehran, which decides whether to grant permission or not. [42]

Writers and publishers face particular difficulties in obtaining permits for material in the Kurdish language. Books -- whether originally written in Kurdish or translated -- have been very popular in Iran's Kurdish areas, and this popularity extends beyond Iran's borders to Iraqi Kurdistan.[43]

Under the reformist administration of President Mohammad Khatami, the government had simplified the process of obtaining permits for a variety of books, including novels, short stories, and poetry as well as works of history and other nonfiction. This allowed for much progress in Kurdish language publications.  Cross-border cultural and literary exchanges reached a high point.[44]

The Ahmadinejad presidency, with its emphasis on "security," has reversed the growth in the publication and circulation of Kurdish books as part of broader restrictions on publishing and disseminating critical works. The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has targeted publications across the board, with a heavy impact on Kurdish and other local language publications. Now Iranian Kurds have to import Kurdish-language books from Iraqi Kurdistan.[45]

Shahram Ghavami, a novelist in Sanandaj, has published three novels. The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, under the Khatami administration, allowed him to reprint his novel Soheila. However, the ministry under the Ahmadinejad administration has not granted him permission for a third printing. Ghavami told Human Rights Watch that the authorities required him to delete 761 passages in order to get a republication permit. He told Human Rights Watch that he refused.[46]

Ghavami faces prosecution for another of his novels, Birba. In the latter half of December 2006, after the novel appeared, security agents from the Ministry of Information arrested Ghavami on charges of "insulting the state."  The authorities detained him for two months in the ministry's own detention center in Sanandaj before releasing him on a bail of approximately 20 million toman (US$ 20,000). There have been no further hearings in the case but the charges have not been dismissed and his case remains open.[47]

According to Ghavami, the charges of "insulting the state" stemmed from a scene in his novel where a Ministry of Information agent forces a woman to have a relationship with him. Ghavami maintains that his novel reflects social realities.[48]

Behzad Khoshali, a writer and researcher from Saghz, faced similar problems. Khoshali wrote and translated a number of books in recent years, but the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has not granted the necessary permits to publish any of them.  They gave no reason for denying the permit. These include three original works -- Self-colonialism, The Cultural Colonialism of the Kurdish People, and Anfalism -- as well as his translations into Kurdish of The Theory of Nationalism, Democratic Nationalism and Multicultural Democracy, and other titles.[49] Khoshali self-published a collection entitled Kurdistan: Days of Crisis, which covers events in Iranian Kurdistan from 1978-1980, despite the ministry's refusal to give him a permit. On a number of occasions, officials from the Ministry of Information bureau in Kurdistan confiscated Thirty Three Bullets and Ghazi Mohammad, two of Khoshali's books, from bookstores despite the fact that he had permission to publish them.[50]

Appendix 2 contains a partial list of cases of governmental persecution and restrictions on writers in the Kurdish Regions.