90 Iranian journalists call on the Iranian authorities to immediately release four journalists, who were arrested by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in early November.

The four journalists, Isa Saharkhiz, Ehsan Mazandarani, Afarin Chitsaz, and Saman Safarzaei, were detained in what appears to be a new crackdown on press freedom ahead of the country’s parliamentary elections next year. They are allegedly accused of being members of an “infiltration network” colluding with hostile Western governments, but have not yet been tried in court.

“We, the undersigned journalists, believe that arresting these four journalists is an attack on press freedom, and we demand their immediate release,“ starts the petition signed by 90 Iranian journalists on December 2, 2015.

“The four journalists were arrested on trumped-up and baseless charges of collaborating with foreign media, even though President Hassan Rouhani has publicly voiced his objection to the arrests.”

According to the petition, the detention of the four journalists is a violation of international human rights agreements as well as Iran’s constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression for all Iranian citizens including journalists. 

“According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, freedom of expression is an inalienable right of all human beings. Anyone accused of a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty in a fair trial,” the petition says, and ends:

“The detention of these journalists is illegal and a violation of their legal rights. The responsible authorities must take action and release the imprisoned journalists.”

Signed by:

1- Ehsan Mehrabi 

2- Ahmad Rafat

3- Ardavan Roozbeh

4- Ershad Alikhani

5- Omid Keshtkar

6- Oimd Memarian

7- Amir Kalhor

8- Amir Hossein Motaghi

9- Amir Hossein Mosala

10- Arash Bahmani

11- Arash Azizi

12- Aida Ghajar

13- Behdad Bordbar

14- Bahram Rafiei

15- Behrouz Samadi

16- Bijan SafSari

17- Bijan Farhoudi

18- Tara Bonyad

19- Touka Neyestani

20- Javad Montazeri

21- Hossein NoushAzar

22- Hamid Eslami

23- Hanif Mazrouei

24- Delbar Tavakoli

25- Rasoul Asghari

26- Reza Haji Hosseini

27- Reza Haghighat Nejad

28- Rouholah Sepand Arand

29- Rouzbeh Mir Ebrahimi

30- Roya Maleki

31- Reyhaneh Mazaheri

32- Sara Damavand

33- Saghi Leghai

34- Sam Sarabi

35- Soroush Farhadian

36- Sama Babai

37- Solmaz Ikdar

38- Siamak Bagheri

39- Shadi Shafie

40- Shahed Alavi

41- Shabnam Azar

42- Shokoufeh Azar

43- Shahram Rafizadeh

44- Shirin Family

45- Ali Asghar Ramezanpour

46- Ali Anisi Tehrani

47- Ali Kheradpir

48- Ali Mahtadi

49- Alireza Taheri

50- Fatemeh Fanaian

51- Fatemeh Karimkhan

52- Faraj Sarkouhi

53- Farzaneh Bazrpour

54- Farzin Golpad

55- Farshid Faryabi

56- Fariborz Soroush

57- Farid Haeri Nejad

58- Firoozeh Akbarian

59- Kambiz Ghafouri

60- Kamyar Behrang

61- Lida Ayaz

62- Lida Hosseini Nejad

63- Maziar Bahari

64- Mani Tehrani

65- Mahrokh Gholamhosseinpour

66- Mojtaba Najafi

67- Majid Saidi

68- Mohamad Aghazadeh

69- Mohammad Tangestani

70- Morteza Kazemian

71- Mojgan Ghafari SHirvan

72- Masoud Behnoud

73- Masoud Safiri

74- Mansoureh Farahani

75- Moloud Hajizadeh

76- Mehdi Tajik

77- Mehdi Mohseni

78- Mehrdad Hoajati

79- Mitra Khalatbari

80- Minou Badie

81- Nazanin Khosravani

82- Nahid Kheirani

83- Naimeh Doustdar

84- Noushabeh Amiri

85- Nik Ahang Kowsar

86- Niloufar Rostami

87- Nima Rad

88- Niyusha Saremi

89- Homayoun Kheiri

90- Yousef Azizi BaniTaraf