March 2024 began with the continued imprisonment of at least 10 journalists and media activists in Iran’s prisons and detention centers. These individuals included Saeedeh Shafiee, Nasim Soltanbeigi, and Vida Rabbani in Evin Prison, Nasrin Hassani in Bojnord Prison, Abubakr Touhidi in Zahedan Prison, Kamyar Fakour, Rouhollah Nakhaei, and Mehdi Afsharnik in Evin Prison, and Ali Tasnimi and Nikan Khabazi in Shapour Detention Center in Tehran.
In March (from February 29, 2024, to March 31, 2024), according to 21 new or updated cases documented by the Defending Free Flow of Information (DeFFI) organization, at least 17 Iranian journalists and media activists—five women and 12 men—were subjected to judicial prosecution.
The number of judicial prosecutions of journalists in March was the lowest since the beginning of the new year. This number in January 2024 (from January 22, 2024, to February 28, 2024) was 35 journalists and media managers, showing a 40% increase compared to the previous month. In January 2024 (from January 1, 2024, to January 21, 2024), a total of 25 journalists or media managers were prosecuted.
Between March 1, 2024, and March 31, 2024, the Islamic Republic arbitrarily arrested two journalists, extended the temporary detention of two previously arrested journalists, summoned one journalist to the Culture and Media Court, filed cases against two journalists, threatened one journalist with arrest, fired a news photographer from a state newspaper for criticizing government officials, halted the execution of sentences for two imprisoned journalists, and released three media activists from Iran’s prisons and detention centers.
In court sessions held in March, five journalists were sentenced in six separate cases to a total of four years and 10 months in prison and fined 12 million tomans, with the application of Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code and the consideration of the latest issued sentences in each case.
In the cases filed or sentences issued against journalists in March, “spreading lies with the intent to disturb public opinion” under Article 746 of the Islamic Penal Code was the most frequently cited charge against media activists, mentioned seven times. Other charges included “propaganda against the regime” under Article 500 of the Islamic Penal Code, repeated twice; “insulting sanctities” under Article 513, and “insulting Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic” under Article 514, each mentioned once.
According to documented cases by the Defending Free Flow of Information, during March alone, security and judicial agencies of the Islamic Republic committed at least 20 violations in media-related cases. These included four instances of holding press courts without a jury, six instances of holding press courts in a non-public manner, subjecting two detained journalists to psychological torture, two cases of preventing detained journalists from accessing legal counsel, depriving one detained journalist of adequate medical care, and detaining one journalist in inhumane conditions.
Similar to previous months, security pressures and violations of media rights continued throughout March. During this period, the nationwide newspaper Aftab Yazd closed after 24 years of operation, the publication Nadashtan ceased operations due to security pressures and multiple legal cases against its managing director, and the provincial newspaper Basharat Yazd faced judicial prosecution for publishing a critical report on the environmental damage caused by a mine. At the same time, government advertisements, a primary source of income for this media outlet, were cut off.