U.S. Raises Concern Over Wave of Arrests in Iran

The U.S. Department of State spokeswoman Victoria Nuland released a statement yesterday voicing the U.S.’s growing concern of arrests, harassment, and death sentences of social activists in Iran.  Reports have arisen concerning the arrests of over half a dozen journalists in the last few weeks, including Parastou Dokouhaki and Marzieh Rasouli, two widely read female bloggers. Additional arrests include former National Press Director for the Ministry of Culture Sahamoddin Bourghani, freelance health and science reporter Fatemeh Kheradman, ethnic researcher Ehsan Houshmandzadeh, and former professor and editor of a quarterly journal called Social Welfare Said Madani.

“Under escalating international pressure” and facing tough economic sanctions, Iranian Anaylst Ali Ashfari explained the regimes actions as sending a message that the state will not tolerate any unrest or action against the state’s plans. Parliamentary elections scheduled to be held in March are the first  since the 2009 crackdown in which supporters of the popular Green Movement took the streets protesting rigged elections. Hadi Ghameni, executive director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, claimed that Iran’s actions show that it is aware of the “resilient popularity of the Green Movement” and thus are sending a message to dissidents warning them against mobilization.

This wave of arrest occurs in the midst of friction between competing conservative camps prior to the March elections “already boycotted” by reformist political parties. Those arrested have been charged with vague accusations such as “spreading corruption” and “threatening national security.” Iran, which has already began a campaign of aggressive internet censorship, is “the world’s worst jailer of the press, with 42 behind bars.”