Iran jails journalist Reza Valizadeh for ‘hostile’ US cooperation. news
According to his lawyer, the Iranian-American journalist has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
An Iranian court has sentenced Iranian-American journalist Reza Valizadeh to 10 years in prison after finding him guilty of “collaborating with a hostile US government”, according to his lawyer.
Valizadeh’s lawyer Mohammad Hossein Agassi told The Associated Press news agency that the Tehran Revolutionary Court issued the first instance verdict a week ago and it could be appealed within 20 days.
Aghasi said he had not been able to meet Valizadeh since the verdict.
Aghasi said on ” ,
Reza Valizadeh is a former journalist for the US government-funded Persian language service of the Voice of America and has also worked for Radio Farda, an outlet under Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, overseen by the US Agency for Global Media Is done by.
In August, Valizadeh apparently posted two messages on social media stating that he had returned to Iran despite Radio Farda being viewed as a hostile outlet by the Iranian government.
“I arrived in Tehran on March 6, 2024. Before that, my conversation with the (Revolutionary Guard’s) intelligence department was incomplete,” the message read in part.
“I finally came back to my country after 13 years without any security guarantees, even verbally.”
Aghasi said that during the first six months of his arrival he was free and then he was arrested.
previous arrests
News of Valizadeh’s sentencing comes as Iranian authorities on Friday arrested prominent activist Reza Khandan, the husband of award-winning rights lawyer and campaigner Nasrin Sotoudeh, her daughter and a lawyer.
Sotoudeh is a lawyer who has spent much of the past decade in and out of prison and has served numerous sentences in cases related to his activism.
Earlier in November, Kianoush Sanjari, a former journalist for VOA’s Persian service, committed suicide by jumping from a building in the Iranian capital in protest against the country’s supreme leader and the country’s ongoing crackdown on dissent.
Iranian officials said Sanjari, 42, had previously demanded the release of four prisoners held in the country and threatened to kill himself if they were not released.
In 2007, former Radio Farda broadcaster, Parnaz Azima, returned to Iran for a short time to visit her ailing mother. His passport was confiscated at the airport. Authorities banned him from leaving the country and he was repeatedly called in for questioning by security forces.
Ultimately, he was released on bail and allowed to leave the country after eight months.
