Iran’s Association of Journalists has announced that the agenda of president-elect Hassan Rohani includes ending a ban on the group.
Kaleme reports that in view of Mr. Rohani’s slogan of “hope and wisdom”, it is only reasonable to expect that he will focus on the problems of journalists in the country.
Kaleme indicates that journalists have been heavily targeted due to “misunderstandings rising from the 2009 events”, which have in turn led to the “undesirable banning of the association.”
The results of the 2009 presidential election were challenged by the reformist candidates. Mass demonstrations led to a crackdown by the government, and journalists reporting on the events became the repeated target of persecution.
Kaleme reports that the group is certain the new president will make every effort “to open the home of journalists so that they can resume their activities in a legal and professional framework.”
The Association of Journalists, with 6,000 members, was shut down following the 2009 protests.
