Iran
Activist arrested yet againPosted Oct 20 2007
Emadeddin Baghi, an Iranian rights activist and leading prisoners’ right advocate was arrested Oct. 15 on charges of “propaganda against the government” and violating national security,” the World Press organization reported.
His lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, said that Baghi was also accused of “publishing secret government documents obtained with the help of prisoners held for security violations in special centres.” according to Reporters Without Borders.
This isn’t Baghi’s first arrest. In 2000, he was given a three-year sentence for “attacking national security.”
A Tehran revolutionary court sentenced him to another year in prison on Nov. 2004 when he wrote a book accusing the Iranian authorities of involvement in the murders of intellectuals and journalists in 1998. In 2003, his newspaper, Joumhouriat, was closed by the government.
An anti-death penalty campaigner, Baghi won a French government human rights prize in 2005.