January 2nd was the National Annual Journalism Awards Day. But for many Iranian journalists, it was just another day behind bars. Aidan White, secretary-general of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), said at a press conference at the European Parliament in Brussels that three board members of the Association of Iranian Journalists (AoIJ) had been jailed.
Iran’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs dissolved the AoIJ in 2008. A total of 139 journalists were killed worldwide in 2009.
Drewery Dyke, a policy analyst on Iran from Amnesty International was also present. He said that arbitrary arrests are common in the country. “A knock on the door at 2 in the morning from a non-uniformed person…could mean somebody’s arrest,” he said adding that most who are detained are never heard from again.
Mr. Dyke said that the next Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is on February 15th.
The UPR is a unique process which involves a review of the human rights records of all 192 UN Member States once every four years. The UPR is a State-driven process, under the auspices of the Human Rights Council, which provides the opportunity for each State to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to fulfil their human rights obligations.
Mr. Dyke also expressed disappointment that delegations from South Africa and Venezula refuse to discuss human rights issues in Iran with Amnesty International. Human Rights Watch investagators have been banned since 2005 from entering the country.