on his Facebook page titled “Death to the US, America is a tool of international criminals.”The blogger’s arrest comes amid ongoing political unrest in Iran, with the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) calling for protests against President Hassan Rouhani’s administration.In March, Rouhani, who is currently in office, announced the formation of a new “Supreme Council […]
BAYAZAR (BAYAZAR) – An Iranian journalist has been arrested for publishing anti-government comments on Facebook, according to a statement released by the judiciary and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.In a statement, the judiciary announced the arrest of the blogger, Ghassan Saghir, on January 6, 2017, and sentenced him to 12 months in prison. The Ministry of Justice also announced the same on January 10, 2017. The statement said Saghin was arrested for “providing propaganda” and “insulting the state,” the latter referring to the Iranian government.In June 2016, Saghian had published an opinion piece on Facebook titled “Let’s not forget the truth, we’re all a bunch of idiots and we should all die of boredom,” which was posted on the Iranian blog and verified by the Ministry for Human Rights and Press Freedom (SHPRF). In it, Sakhian wrote that the Iranian nation should “die of boredom” and that the Islamic Republic would “never let any nation go down that path,” referring to its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The opinion piece also criticized the United States for its “weakness” and stated that the country would not allow the United Nations Security Council to “impose sanctions” on Iran, which it said would “undermine the nation’s national security.”Saghir was arrested in March 2016 after posting an opinion
