House of Cinema: Timeline of Events
January 23, 2012
Open Letter Against the Closure of the House of Cinema Signed by 2000
January 31, 2012
Arseh Sevom — The end of January 2012 witnessed a further escalation in human rights violations in Iran. The ongoing repression continued with the arrest of two journalists, both women: Parastoo Dokoohaki and Marzieh Rasooli. The arrests of Mohammad Solimaninya, a website administrator and owner of Social Network for Iranian Professionals (www.u24.ir) that hosts and designs a number of civil society websites, ten Sunni Muslims in Ahwaz, as well as the shocking confirmation of the death sentence for Iranian-Canadian Saeed Malekopour, are just a few examples of the human rights situation in Iran in January alone.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), an international organization aimed at defending freedoms of expression and the press, has been focusing on human rights violations committed against Iranian journalists. This organization defends the rights of journalists to physical and psychological welfare. Their annual press freedom index is used by international organizations as one of the criteria for gauging social development. According to a recent study, Iran is the country with the highest number of journalists behind bars.
On January 10,2012, RSF wrote to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay. In its letter, they (click here to read the pdf version voiced concern about the situation in Iran describing it as “a relentless war…”
Most recently, RSF expressed its shock over the confirmation of Saeed Malekpour’s death sentence:
“Reporters Without Borders is shocked to learn that the supreme court has confirmed website designer Saeed Malekpour’s death sentence. His family said the court took the decision under pressure from the Revolutionary Guards. A Canadian resident who was arrested on 4 October 2008 while visiting his family, Malekpour, 35, was sentenced to death in January 2011 on charges of anti-government agitation and insulting Islam.”
