RWB: New arrest of a Kurdish journalist in Iran

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Reporters Without Borders Reports:

Reporters Without Borders today called for the release of a Kurdish contributor to national and foreign media, Massud Kurdpoor, who was arrested by intelligence ministry agents at his home in Bukan, Iranian Kurdistan on 7 August 2008.

The teacher had been broadcasting regularly on foreign radio stations Voice of America, Radio France International and Deutsche Welle about increased repression and violations of human rights in the region. Kurdpoor was held in solitary confinement for three weeks before being transferred to jail in Mahabad, the main city of Kurdistan.

He was charged at the Mahabad revolutionary court on 7 September 2008 with “publicity against the regime during interviews given to foreign and enemy media” without any lawyer in court to represent him. His arrest brings to six the number of Kurdish journalists behind bars in Iran.