Censorship continues in Iran

With the fourth Iranian-American arrested on charges of spying, a growing trend of censorship seems to be taking hold in Iran, BBC News reported today. Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian Nobel peace laureate, claims that the Iranian government is seeking to control the publicizing of internal events on the international stage.

“Censorship has got much worse recently... Iran's government doesn't like its domestic affairs and events inside the country to be reflected in the outside world,” Ebadi said. “Usually when governments are threatened by foreign forces, they suppress freedom-loving figures by pretending to defend national sovereignty.”

Ebadi had attempted to represent Haleh Esfandiari, an Iranian-American scholar charged with spying against Iran, but she been denied the chance to meet with her. According to Iranian law, one cannot be accused of a crime before appearing in court; however, the Ministry of Intelligence continues to illegally describe Esfandiari as a spy, in addition to placing her in solitary confinement without legal representation.

The other detainees are Kian Tajbakhsh and Ali Shakeri; they have also been charged with spying. Parnaz Azima, a journalist, has been released from prison but banned from exiting the country.

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