Petition

Free Maziar Bahari: 100 global journalists petition Iran

His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Justice Ministry
Pazdah-Khordad (Ark) Square
Tehran, Iran

By fax: 98 21 222 90 151

Your Excellency:

We are writing to express our grave concern at the detention of our esteemed fellow journalist Maziar Bahari and to request his immediate release. Mr. Bahari has been detained since June 21. No charges have been brought against him, and he has not been granted access to a lawyer. As one of the most impartial and committed journalists in his field, he has reported regularly over the past decade from the Middle East, principally from Iran and Iraq, and provided consistently balanced and insightful reports. As an award-winning documentary filmmaker, he has earned global respect for his work.

We request that he be immediately released from custody and be allowed to resume his work. As a journalist, he was engaged in fulfilling his professional duties, reporting on critical events following the elections. At a minimum, he is entitled to the full protection of the laws of Iran, including the right to legal counsel. The Islamic Republic of Iran's domestic laws recognize the right to free expression. Iran was also one of the first countries in the world to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees all individuals the freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media.

As leading international journalists and editors who wish to ensure that our fellow professionals are permitted to do their work safely and freely, we ask you to consider this petition and return Mr. Bahari to his family, friends, and colleagues without further delay.

Sincerely,

Nada Adessamad, Lebanon
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed, Al-Arabiya
Mansoor Al-Jamri, Al-Wasat, Bahrain
Abdul Karim Al-Khaiwani, Yemen
Walid Al-Omari, Al-Jazeera
Christiane Amanpour, CNN
Jamal Amer, Al-Wasat, Yemen
Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker
Ali Anouzla, Al-Jarida Al-Oula, Morocco
Sally Armstrong, Maclean's, Canada
Abdul Bari Atwan, Al-Quds Al-Arabi
Omar Belhouchet, Al-Watan, Algeria
Ahmed Reda Benchemsi, TelQuel and Nishan, Morocco
Mohamed Benchicou, Algeria
Sihem Bensedrine, Kalima, Tunisia
Mehmet Ali Birand, CNN TURK
Taoufik Bouachrine, Akhbar el-Youm, Morocco
Ali Bulaç Zaman, Turkey
Tony Burman, Al-Jazeera English
Ian Buruma, Bard College
Lydia Cacho, Mexico
Carlos Fernando Chamorro, Confidencial, Nicaragua
Doha Chams, Al-Akhbar, Lebanon
Ying Chan, Hong Kong
Noam Chomsky, U.S.
Daniel Coronell, Noticias Uno, Colombia
John Cruickshank, Publisher, Toronto Star, Canada
Marites Danguilan Vitug, Newsbreak, The Philippines
Nicholas Dawes, Mail and Guardian, South Africa
Redi Direko, Radio 702, South Africa
Ibrahim Eissa, Al-Dustour, Egypt
Gamal Fahmy, Egypt
Lucio Flavio Pinto, Jornal Pessoal, Brazil
Yousri Fouda, Egypt
Tom Friedman, The New York Times
Sami Ghaleb, Al-Nida, Yemen
Murtada Ghali, Ajras Al-Hurriya, Sudan
Hussein Abdel Ghani, Al-Jazeera
Mónica Gonzalez, CIPER, Chile
Gustavo Gorriti, Peru
Alma Guillermoprieto, Mexico
Lotfi Hajji, Al-Jazeera
Brian Hungwe, Zimbabwe
Boubakir Jamai, Le Journal, Morocco
Josef Joffe, Die Zeit, Germany
Chaitanya Kalbag, India
Hisham Kassem, EOHR, Egypt
Rachid Khechana, Al-Mawkif, Tunisia
Elias Khoury, An-Nahar, Lebanon
Kyung-Ho Kim, Journalists Association of Korea
Sami Kohen, Milliyet, Turkey
Ted Koppel, U.S.
Mohamed Krichene, Al-Jazeera
Daoud Kuttab, Palestine
Andrei Lipsky, Novaya Gazeta, Russia
Linden MacIntyre, CBC, Canada
Amadou Mahtar Ba, All Africa
Peter Mansbridge, CBC, Canada
Daniele Mastrogiacomo, La Repubblica, Italy
Veran Matic, B92, Serbia
Wilf Mbanga, The Zimbabwean
Adam Michnik, Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland
John Micklethwait, The Economist
Roula Mikkaeil, Maharat, Lebanon
Javier Moreno, El País
Caroline Mutoko, Kiss FM, Kenya
Adela Navarro Bello, Zeta, Mexico
Fintan O'Toole, Irish Times
Carol Off, CBC, Canada
Mariane Pearl, France
Teodoro Petkoff, Tal Cual, Venezuela
Alan Philps, U.K.
Cristian Tudor, Popescu, Gândul, Romania
Vladimir Pozner, Independent Journalist, Russia
Antonia Rados, RTL Germany
Sergio Ramírez, Nicaragua
Ahmed Rashid, Pakistan
Neziha Rejiba, Kalima, Tunisia
Lloyd Robertson, CTV News, Canada
Fernando Rodrigues, Folha de S. Paulo, Brazil
Pierre Rousselin, Le Figaro
Fabrice Rousselot, Libération
Rana Sabbagh-Gargour, Jordan
Mahjoub Mohamed Saleh, Al-Ayyam, Sudan
Daniel Santoro, Clarín, Argentina
Enrique Santos, El Tiempo, Colombia
Fernando Savater, Spain
Roberto Saviano, Italy
Joe Schlesinger, Veteran CBC correspondent, Canada
Khaled Sergany, Al-Dostour, Egypt
Najam Sethi, Daily Times, Pakistan
Sabam Siagian, Jakarta Post, Indonesia
Sigrun Slapgard, Norwegian Broadcasting Organisation
Jon Snow, Channel 4, U.K.
John Stackhouse, The Globe and Mail, Canada
Paul Steiger, ProPublica, U.S.
Ndey Tapha Sosseh, Gambia Press Union
Tarun Tejpal, Tehelka, India
Manuel Vázquez Portal, Cuba
Franco Venturini, Corriere della Sera, Italy
Horacio Verbitsky, Página/12, Argentina
Jiang Weiping, China
Lal Wickrematunge, Sunday Leader, Sri Lanka
Karem Yehya, Egypt
Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek
Faride Zeran, Chile

Click here to read this petition in Farsi (pdf)

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