In a new wave of arrests targeting media activists, Marzieh Rasouli has been arrested in Tehran.
The Human Rights House of Iran reports that Rasouli’s home was raided and many of her belongings confiscated before she was arrested on the charge of “acting against national security.”
Rasouli has a history of collaboration with Iran’s Student News Agency (ISNA), the Shargh and Etemad dailies and several film publications.
This week, Parastoo Dokouhaki, another journalist and women’s rights activist, was also arrested in Tehran.
Dokouhaki was one of the first bloggers in Iran, and her blog “Zan-nevesht” received a “best weblog” prize from Deutsche Welle in 2005.
Dokouhaki has collaborated with several Iranian newspapers, including Hambastegi, Etemad Melli, Shargh and Sarmayeh.
Mohammad Soleymani-nia, a translator and writer, was also arrested this week.
Fatemeh Kheradmand, Ehsan Houshmand and Hassan Fathi are the other journalists that have been arrested in recent weeks.
Last week, Reporters Without Borders once again sounded an alarm over the situation of Iranian journalists and, in an open letter to UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay, called for her immediate intervention on behalf of Iran’s persecuted media activists.
