IRAN: Journalists call on visiting colleagues to steer clear of official propaganda

A group of exiled Iranian journalists has appealed to their foreign counterparts not to swallow the official spin about the Feb. 11 anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution, which is turning into the next big confrontation between hard-liners allied with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the green-themed opposition movement. 

The letter, posted in Persian, English and German to Facebook and other websites, reminds journalists visiting Iran that dozens of their Iranian colleagues remain behind bars and the government has intensified its crackdown against dissenting media. 

Now, authorities are preparing to discredit and marginalize the opposition by using government resources to muster up a huge crowd in Tehran during the annual march and by barring opposition supporters from entering the area where Ahmadinejad will speak and journalists will be placed. 

"After failing for eight months to achieve its goals, the illegal and fraudulent government has now prepared a new show," the letter said. "Inviting foreign journalists to provide media coverage of the anniversary of the 1979 revolution on Feb. 11, 2010, is another part of the deceitful plan of Ahmadinejad’s illegal administration."

The letter notes that the government has arrested, detained, harassed and restricted foreign journalists and even accused some of espionage. 

"Now, it is using them, through its invitation, so they can show the world that it is a government that enjoys popular support," the letter said. "The goal of the Iranian government is to direct journalists towards the pro-government demonstrations and prevent them from going to other locales." 

It calls on Western journalists to keep their eyes and ears open, so as not to be deceived by the government's machinations. 

"Like on other similar occasions, the coup government will attempt to control all the paths so that the only people that will come in view of your cameras will be the [pro-government militiamen] Basijis, who will present a caricature of the Iranian nation for your television cameras," the letter said. "You will hear the protesting voice of the Iranian people clearer than ever if you look beyond the fences, cordons, and barriers and look at the real people of Iran."

-- Los Angeles Times

Photo: Newsweek correspondent and documentary filmmaker Maziar Bahari was arrested, jailed, physically abused and coerced into confessing crimes in a televised trial after he captured footage of Basiji militiamen firing on demonstrators during a massive June 15 anti-government rally. The Canadian Iranian dual national was later released and recanted his confessions. Credit: Fars News Agency

Comments

[Publicola]

»Unhappy the land that is in need of heroes !«

quote from:
Galileo Galilei in 'Life of Galileo' (1937 / 1947) by Bertolt Brecht

[Mr. Obvious]

Arash:

I don't see Shirin Ebadi running away from her country when the going gets tough.

If you were a dissident reporter in Columbia or Honduras, countries the US controls, you would just be killed. Count your blessings that Iran let you run away like a little girl.

I know 5 black Americans that were "put in jail for no reason" and "tortured" there by white cops. They didn't run away to another country when they got out. They quietly plotted revenge, avoiding the things that got them thrown in jail the first time. And their parents didn't run away to another country in the 60's when the Civil Rights movement got violent.

Running away is for cowards. You forfeit your right to whine about the old country when you choose a new one.

[Arash]

To Mr. Obvious who asked why these journalists left their country:

They left their country because they were forced to, because they were put in jail for no reason. Iran is one of the largest prisons for the journalists, and they are facing very touch conditions, and if arrested, will face several years in jail and torture. So, for a reporter who spent the last few years reporting the realities in Iran, and knows her/his fate through watching what happened to his colleagues, there are only two solutions left: jail or escape. At least, outside Iran, she/he would have the opportunity to be the voice of those who are behind the bars.

Please educate yourself a little bit by reading what happened to other reporters, the tortures they are enduring and the long jail times they have been indicted to for ridiculous reasons. They are the voice of the Iranians.

[Publicola]

@ Mr. Obious,

Obvious indeed is the answer to the following question:

Wasn’t and isn’t Iran the country, which has so far continually put into reality the following statement by the French orator and revolutionary. Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud (1753 – 1793), who was executed and died unconfessed, a philosopher and a patriot.

“Citoyens, il est à craindre que la révolution, comme Saturne, ne dévore successivement tous ses enfants et n’engendre enfin le despotisme avec les calamités qui l’accompagnent.”

“Citizens, we have reason to fear that the Revolution, like Saturn, will successively devour all its children, and finally produce despotism, with the calamities that accompany it.”
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pierre_Vergniaud

Yours

Publicola

[Mr. Obvious]

If these "Iranians" were so concerned with the future of Iran, why did they leave in the first place ?

Oh right, to "make more money".
"We didn't like the non-murderous-Shah Iran."
"We hate Islam."

Whatever.

Now, enjoy your new home.
Quit whining about a country that you left.