Iran: International PEN protests the continued detention of Maziar Bahari

President:
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency,
Palestine Avenue,
Azerbaijan Intersection,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

10 July 2009

Your Excellency,

International PEN, the world association of writers representing members in 104 countries, strongly protests the continued detention of leading Canadian-Iranian journalist, editor, playwright and film-maker Maziar Bahari. He is among scores of journalists and leading reformists to have been arrested in Iran following the disputed presidential elections on 12 June 2009. Concerns for his well-being are mounting.

According to PEN's information, Newsweek correspondent Maziar Bahari, who has lived and worked in Tehran for the past ten years and who has dual Canadian-Iranian citizenship, was arrested on 21 June 2009. He remains detained incommunicado without charge. International PEN is gravely concerned by an alleged ‘confession' published on 30 June 2009 by an Iranian state news agency, in which Bahari admits to participating in an alleged Western media effort to promote irresponsible reporting in Iran. Maziar Bahari is a widely respected and award-winning commentator on Iranian issues, and his arrest is part of a major crackdown on dissent which has seen unprecedented restrictions on the foreign media in Iran. There have been widespread arbitrary arrests of journalists and leading reformist figures, in flagrant violation of Iran's commitments to human rights and free expression under the Iranian constitution.

International PEN reminds the Iranian authorities of their obligations to Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which it is a signatory, and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Maziar Bahari and all those currently detained in Iran for peacefully exercising their right to free expression.

We would welcome your comments on this matter.

Jirí Gruša - International President

Eugene Schoulgin - International Secretary

Karin Clark - Writers in Prison Committee Chair

********************************

*This letter has been sent today 10 August 2009 by International PEN protesting the detention of leading Iranian journalist, playwright, editor and film-maker Maziar Bahari. Centres are encouraged to send similar letters to the diplomatic representative for Iran in their country, and to publicise the case of Maziar Bahari in their local press.