Iran under fire from press freedom group

Iran is under fire from the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists because of the government's increasing repression of the media.

The press freedom advocacy group issued its annual report, Attacks on the Press 2009, on Tuesday, saying it recorded 71 deaths among journalists last year. The Philippines was the deadliest country for journalists in 2009, with 33 killed.

In 2009, Iran became one of the world's leading jailers of journalists, second only to China, the committee said.

The report highlighted the case of Iranian-Canadian Maziar Bahari, a writer for Newsweek who spent 118 days inside Tehran's Evin prison after being arrested following Iran's disputed presidential election.

Bahari, who was accused of being a spy, recounted a conversation with one of his interrogators that was a chilling indication of how Iran views the media.

The interrogator said Bahari was paid to send reports to foreigners — "enemies of Iran," he called them — and that was precisely what spies did.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have essentially criminalized journalism," the report said, noting that while Bahari has been released, 47 other reporters remain in prison.

Most were arrested for covering demonstrations and other opposition to the Iranian regime.

Last week, thee Committee to Protect Journalists joined with PEN, Reporters Sans Frontières, Index on Censorship, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression and the International Publishers Association to launch a campaign against Iran's crackdown on the media.

"Arresting journalists and writers is wrong and counterproductive at the same time," Bahari said at the launch of the campaign. "It is illegal even according to Iranian laws, and the Iranian government is actually undermining its own authority by arresting journalists.

"In Iran, journalists have always reflected people's frustration with the government. By denying people of a peaceful way to vent their anger the government of Iran is forcing people to act out their anger on the streets."

The Attacks on the Press report also mentioned the case of Amanda Lindhout, the Canadian freelance journalist held hostage in Somalia for nine months and freed last year.

An introduction by Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, pointed out that more international news outlets are relying on freelancers to cover international news because of cutbacks in staff. Freelancers are particularly vulnerable because they don't have a large news organization to battle on their behalf, he said, noting Lindhout's case got "scant attention."

There is also increased reliance on domestic journalists to feed news to newspapers and wire services around the world, Zakaria said. They are even more vulnerable than freelancers, especially in countries such as Iran and Somalia, he said.

"The Somali press corps has suffered devastating losses," he wrote. "Nine local journalists were killed in 2009 and dozens have fled the country. Western correspondents — few of whom venture into Somalia now — no longer have sources to rely upon for basic information."

Most of those in Iranian prisons are also domestic journalists, Zakaria said.

The number of deaths in the Philippines jumped in part because of a single incident — the massacre of 30 journalists, media workers and supporters of an opposition candidate during a political campaign. A total of 68 journalists and media workers have been killed in the Philippines since 1992.

In Iraq, 141 journalists and media workers have been killed since 1992, but only four died there last year, the report said.