Comment on Few details month after reporters detained in Iran

Few details month after reporters detained in Iran

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Iranian-American correspondent for the Washington Post and his journalist wife have been held in custody for a month in Iran, suggesting a possible struggle between a new guard of moderates pushing for greater freedom and the old hard-line establishment. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Wednesday that American officials had raised their case in recent bilateral talks with Iran earlier this month. [...] Gholamhossein Esmaili, the director-general of Tehran province's justice department, said last month that Rezaian was detained for questioning and Iranian security forces are "vigilant towards all kind of enemies' activities." Rezaian, along with The Associated Press and other Western news media, also reported on an online video that showed six young Iranians dancing to Pharrell Williams' "Happy," which led to the dancers' arrests in May. Tasnim, a semi-official news agency close to the hard-line Revolutionary Guard, carried a statement signed by the Basiji Lawyers Organization that accused the detained journalists of being "American spies" who should be sentenced to death if found guilty. Haleh Esfandiari, who directs the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, was herself detained by Iranian security authorities in 2007 and held in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison.

 

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