The European Court of Justice has rejected appeals by Mohammad Sarafraz, the head of Iranian national broadcaster Seda va Sima, and Hamid Reza Emadi, Press TV’s chief editor, to be removed from Europe’s blacklist for human rights violations.
Justice For Iran reports that the court has determined that the two individuals remain in violation of human rights for “their role in broadcasting forced confessions of political prisoners”.
The verdict means that Sarafraz and Emadi will continue to be barred from entering any EU country and all their accounts and assets in EU banks will remain frozen.
Sarafraz had argued that the decision to blacklist him is “baseless and unfair”.
Prior to becoming the head of Seda va Sima, Sarafraz was in charge of Press TV, the international branch of Iran’s state broadcaster. Under his tenure, the confessions of a series of political prisoners, including those of a number of ethnic minorities, were aired on Press TV’s English-language program.
Emadi is also responsible for airing an interview with Maziar Bahari, an Iranian-Canadian journalist detained in Iran.
