A revolutionary court in Tehran has sentenced a prominent Iranian journalist, Issa Saharkhiz, to three years in jail for “insulting the supreme leader” and spreading propaganda against the state.

According to his lawyer, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei, who spoke to Associated Press, the sentence was passed down on Monday (8 August) and Saharkhiz was given 20 days to appeal.

The journalist, who contributed to the opposition news website Rooz Online, has been in prison since he was arrested last November. He recently spent time in hospital because of a heart problem.

Saharkhiz spent nearly five years in prison on similar charges before being released in 2013. He had previously served as Iran’s deputy minister of culture.



Although the authorities have not stated in public the specific reasons for the new offences, Saharkhiz’s son, Mehdi, told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in March this year that he believed his father was arrested because of his pre-election reporting and analysis.

Mehdi Saharkhiz also told the CPJ that his father, who was taking medication for kidney and blood pressure problems, was in critical condition while in custody in Evin prison.



In March, Saharkhiz was reportedly taken to a hospital after suffering a heart attack. Two months before, he started a hunger strike to protest against his prolonged detention.

He faces yet more charges, so-called political crimes, and it is expected that they will heard in front of a jury.

The CPJ’s Midddle East and north Africa programme coordinator, Sherif Mansour, said: “The Iranian authorities should ensure that Issa Saharkhiz receives robust medical attention... The obscure handling of the legal charges and the poor treatment in prison reinforce our view that the case against Saharkhiz is politically motivated.”

Saharkhiz’s detention came amid a campaign that resulted in the arrests of three other journalists: Saman Sarfarzaee, Afarin Chitsaz, and Ehsan Mazandarani.

As the Guardian reported, they were given lengthy prison sentences in April after being delclared guilty of spreading propaganda against the ruling system, conspiring against officials and insulting the authorities.

Chitsaz, who worked for the government’s official newspaper, Iran, was sentenced to 10 years; Mazandarani, editor-in-chief of the daily Farhikhtegan, got a seven-year sentence; and Saman Safarzaee, of the monthly Andisheh Pouya, was given five years. They are to appeal.



All the outlets are considered sympathetic to the administration of the moderate president, Hassan Rouhani.

Sources: Associated Press via ABC/CPJ/The Guardian