Iranian authorities detain culture reporter Nooshin Jafari on unknown charges

The whereabouts of detained photojournalist and culture report Nooshin Jafari remain unknown more than a week after her arrest.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

13 August, 2019

Iranian reporter Nooshin Jafari was arrested outside her home in Tehran [Twitter/Free_Taheri]

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Iranian authorities to release Nooshin Jafari, a photojournalist and culture reporter, who was arrested last week.

Jafari has not been heard from since she was arrested outside her Tehran home on August 3 and taken to an unknown location, the New York-based media freedom watchdog said.

"Iranian authorities must immediately release Nooshin Jafari and return all of her equipment or disclose the charges against her," said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour.

"It is outrageous for Iran to hold a journalist in an unknown location, for no reason, and with no contact with her family, for more than a week."

The news of Jafari's arrest broke on Twitter. The Iranian judiciary document detailing her arrest circulated on social media, revealing that authorities searched Jafari's home and confiscated 35 items, including her phone, memory drives, and cameras.

Twitter Post

The reason for her arrest was included.

Some social media users claimed Jafari was arrested for running an anti-government Twitter account.

"Nooshin is just a photojournalist and didn't have any private or public account on social media, including on Twitter," an acquaintance of Jafari told the CPJ.

Jafari was arrested once before in 2009 while working as an arts and culture reporter at reformist daily newspaper Etemad.

CPJ found in December 2018 that eight journalists were found to be imprisoned in Iran in direct relation to their work.

Iran is ranked 170th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders' 2019 World Press Freedom Index.

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