The Iranian adjudicators confirmed on Tuesday that two journalists from the Kurdish minority of the country have been given death sentence, according to the Iranian state media.
As judiciary spokesperson Ali Reza Jamshidi told the Islamic Republic News Agency, that Adnan Hassanpour and Hiva Boutimar were condemned on the charge of ‘moharebeh‘, which is a phrase used in Iran to depict a major offense committed against Islam and the state.
The judges believed that the journalists were militants in Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan, bordering Iraq. They were in custody after the Kurds had rebelled in Sanandaj in 2005.Tehran holds the United States responsible for adding fuel to ethnic minority tensions in the Kurdish regions of northwest Iran.
However, IRNA’s report on these death sentences did not identify the specific crime that the journalists were accused of. The report was also vague on when or how the death sentences would be implemented.
In Iran a verdict is unusual for journalists, at least for his or her reporting, even though there is continuous pressure from the state on media personnel. Nevertheless, in this case the theocratic regime of Iran sentenced these two Kurdish journalists to death for being ‘enemies of God’. ‘Moharebeh’ literally means ‘fighting’ in classical Arabic, and the journalists are apparently facing a death sentence because of their reporting, which have been seen as ‘rebellious’ by the state.
The RSF found Iran’s decision to be shocking and disgraceful. They were stunned by -
How little Iran is bothered by international humanitarian law. How determined it is to use every possible means to silence the most outspoken journalists and human rights activists.
So far, hostility against journalists came from extremist groups in the Middle East. Journalists have been tortured, threatened and murdered frequently in Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. Not that the governments of these countries were bothered much by these slaughters, but they at least pretended to be concerned. It seemed that they were aware of the basic rights of a journalist and respected his or her freedom of speech, at least to some extent.
But this time, the State of Iran itself is about to commit organized murders of two journalists, whose only crime seems to be that they spoke out fearlessly, and perhaps said things that the state did not expect them to say.
Should we, then, arrive at this conclusion, that ‘freedom of speech’ for journalists in Iran is limited to being an ideological concept, and in terms of practical implications, it is feasible only when the journalists stick to being ‘loyal’ to the state?
Image Credit : Iranian, Persian Impediment
