ABC blog

Journalist Amir Hossein Mir Ismae’li has been arrested and sent to Iran’s Hassan Abad Prison for criticizing Iran’s Relief Committee charity on social media, according to journalist Mehdi Mahdavi Azad. Journalism is Not a Crime reports that Mir Ismae’li was taken into custody on July 11

Mir Ismae’li had previously been arrested on the charge of “disrespecting [Shi’a saint] Imam Reza” over his criticism of senior cleric Ahmad Alam Olhoda.

The June 17^th tweet which apparently attracted the attention of judicial authorities reads:

“You really woke up, went and gave food to three hundred thousand Palestinians, and came back? Good work man: you’re really sophisticated. But nothing bothered you when you were passing out food? Your nerves or your conscience? No? Alright, no problem.”

Mir Ismae’li further clarified:

“As long as even one Iranian goes hungry, spending resources on foreigners anywhere is surely a huge sin. And while we’re at it, you shouldn’t lie this freely: these funds come straight from our national treasury and the Relief Committee’s budget – ask the Cyber Police and they’ll tell you. The official numbers say that two thirds of our people are under the poverty line – do you know this?”

In his most recent 2018 report on Iran, the UN Secretary General noted that the UN continued to received reports of “arbitrary arrest, detention, and harassment of journalists” and urged the Iranian government “to ensure human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists are able to exercise their peaceful, legitimate activities safely and freely.”

Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which Iran ratified in 1975 holds that “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.”