In the 1980s, Mashallah Shamsolvaezin was a member of the editorial board of the Kian newspaper, and later editor-in-chief of a number of now suspended newspapers including Jame'eh, Toos, Neshat, Goonagoon, and Asr-e Azadegan. He holds a master's degree in political science from the University of Lebanon and is fluent in Arabic and Italian.


Prison Sentence For Editorial Activity

In 1999, the Neshat newspaper, of which Shamsolvaezin was editor-in-chief, was suspended on charges of “blasphemy,” “inciting people and students to riot” and “insulting members of parliament,” following a legal complaint filed by Iranian law enforcement and three members of the Iranian parliament at that time.

In mid-November 1999, Judge Saeed Mortazavi, Head of Branch 1401 of the Government Employees' Court (Press Court), summoned Shamsolvaezin. During this court hearing, Shamsolvaezin was represented by Mohammad Seifzadeh. The lower court issued a sentence of two and half years imprisonment against Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, which was referred to the Court of Appeals after Mr Shamolvaezin objected to the verdict.

This legal case was prompted by controversial publications [focussing on issues such as freedom of speech and religion] from a number of the newspapers which Shamsolvaezin edited and which were subsequently suspended.

On April 9, 2000, at the suggestion of Nemat Ahmadi, another of his lawyers, Shamsolvaezin went to court to meet Judge Saeed Mortazavi and to wish him a happy Norooz. However, Judge Mortazavi received a telephone call which confirmed that the Court of Appeals had upheld the two and half year prison sentence against Shamsolvaezin and as such Judge Mortazavi ordered that he be transferred to Evin Prison to serve his sentence.

On July 24, 2001, a year after Shamsolvaezin was sent to prison, Nemat Ahmadi told the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA): “My client has not been held to the former prison sentence since January 22, 2001; however, he is still imprisoned due to an arrest warrant against him in relation to the "Society Day Company/Shirkat Jame’eh Rooz" case [a joint legal case in which three newspaper managing directors and editors were tried collectively]. On the Anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in 2001, all prisoners who had a prison sentence of under five years and who had served at-least one-third of their sentences were granted a pardon by the Supreme Leader. This amnesty covered thieves and smugglers, but it also naturally includes the case of Mashallah Shamsolvaezin. However, an arrest warrant has been issued against Mr Shamsolvaezin in connection with the ‘Society Day Company/Shirkat Jame’eh Rooz’ case, which has not yet been dismissed. If the request to dismiss this warrant is accepted, Mashallah Shamsolvaezin will be released from prison.”

Shamsolvaezin was released from prison in Autumn 2002 after having served the entirety of his two and a half years prison sentence. 

Six years later, on July 8, 2008, Mohammad Seifzadeh, Shamsolvaezin’s lawyer, spoke to ISNA in an interview in which he said that Branch 1083 of the General Courts of Tehran had fined his client 40 million rials as part of the Society Day Company/Shirkat Jame’eh Rooz case. This monetary fine was issued instead of an alternative sentence of 10 lashes of the whip and eight months and 10 days imprisonment, including the days that he had previously been detained. In this case, Shamsolvaezin had been charged with "publishing lies" and libel due to his writings.


Numerous Court Summonses Over A Period Of Two Years

On February 7, 2014, the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office of Tehran issued a court summons against Shamsolvaezin. The plaintiff of these summons was the then Attorney General of Tehran, who accused Shamsolvaezin of “publishing lies” and “libel.” This case was referred for investigation to prosecutor Hosseinian of Branch 6 of the Criminal Prosecutor’s Office for Government and Media Employees. 

A few days later, Shamsolvaezin, who had gone to Canada at the invitation of the Federation of Canadian Journalists and the University of Toronto, returned to Iran and stated that he did not intend to appear in court because he had not received a court summons.

On June 10, 2004, Shamsolvaezin received another court summons by Branch 3 of the Criminal Prosecutor’s Office for Government and Media Employees on charges of “propaganda against the state” and “publishing lies.” He once again stated that he did not intend to appear in court.

On January 12, 2005, Shamsolvaezin received another court summons, this time issued by the Branch 1 of the Prosecutor’s Office for Government Employees.

Shamsolvaezin, who was the spokesperson for the Iranian Association for the Defense of Press Freedom at the time, stated that he had, to date, received six different court summons on various charges similar to “publishing lies” and “disturbing the public opinion.” Following the death of Zahra Kazemi, an arrested blogger, Shamsolvaezin spoke to ISNA about how he did not feel safe to appear in court. He said: “I have filed numerous legal complaints against the Attorney General of Tehran, none of which had been heard so far. Until these complaints have been examined and investigated, I will not appear in court.”

Numerous court summonses were issued against Shamsolvaezin in 2003 and 2004, however, on January 26, 2005, Branch 6 of the Prosecutor’s Office for Government and Media Employees issued a prohibition of prosecution order against Shamsolvaezin on the charge of “publishing lies.” The plaintiff in Shamsolvaezin’s case was the public prosecutor.


2009 Presidential Elections and Shamsolvaezin’s Interviews with Foreign Media Outlets

In 2009, Shamsolvaezin was the spokesperson for the Iranian Association for the Defense of Press Freedom. After the widespread protests and unrest on December 26, 2009, which became known as the 2009 Ashura Protests, plainclothes police officers raided Mashallah Shamsolvaezin’s house on December 29, presented him with a blank arrest warrant and arrested him.

Two months later, Shamsolvaezin was released from prison, but his case was still open in Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Courts of Tehran. He was charged with “insulting the Iranian President” and “weakening the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

On December 10, 2010, Shamsolvaezin was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment by Judge Mohammad Moghiseh, head of Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Courts of Tehran.

Shamsolvaezin spoke to BBC Persian in an interview in which he explained the accusations against him, saying: “The verdict issued by Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Courts of Tehran stated that, in an interview with the Arabic language news network, Al-Arabiya, I had called the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, ‘repressive’ and ‘insane.’”

He continued by saying that the accusations had arisen from a mistake in the translation of his remarks from Arabic into Persian: “I used the phrase 'great madness', which in Arabic means arrogance. Yes! I said he was arrogant, but I didn't say he was crazy.”

Shamsolvaezin was also charged with a second accusation in connection with the interviews that he conducted with a number of foreign media outlets including the BBC, Al-Arabiya, the RoozOnline website and Der Spiegel magazine. 

According to him, the court ruled that Shamsolvaezin had “presented a negative portrayal” of the government of Islamic Republic of Iran in these interviews, calling it “repressive” and calling Iranian journalists “prey caught in the regime's clutches.”

The court sentenced Shamsolvaezin to one year in prison on the charge of “weakening the Islamic Republic of Iran” citing the comments that he made during the interviews and other statements he had made in defence of a prisoner who had been an employee at the French Embassy in Iran as evidence against him. 

In July 2011, Shamsolvaezin was summoned to prison to serve his 16 months sentence: 12 months on the charge of “weakening the Islamic Republic of Iran” and four months on the charge of “insulting the Iranian President.” Judicial officials sent another warning to Shamsolvaezin’s mother, who was his bail guarantor, in which they stated that his bail would be confiscated if he did not report to prison to serve his sentence within 20 days. This sentence has not yet been enforced.


Lecture at International Press Institute’s World Congress in South Africa 

On December 16, 2013, the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence contacted Shamsolvaezin to inform him that his travel ban had been lifted.

A few months later, on April 14, 2014, Shamsolvaezin attended the International Press Institute [IPI] World Congress in Cape Town, South Africa. During the ceremony he received the World Press Freedom Award and gave a speech on the state of journalism in Iran. 

In his speech at the IPI World Congress he said: “I come from a country where there are four seasons a year; Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, like anywhere else in the world, with the exception of the North and South Poles. However, as for the seasons of the fourth pillar of democracy, that is the Iranian media, there are only three seasons. In Summer, it is extremely hot, and in Autumn and Winter it is freezing cold!”

On June 21, 2014, Shamsolvaezin was informed of a summons issued by the Evin Prosecutor's Office which requested him to report there within three days to give a statement. If not, the summons stated, a warrant for his arrest would be issued. 

On the same day, another summons was issued stating that he had violated the travel ban that was active against him. This summons also stated that he could apply the ruling within 20 days.

Four years later, in 2018, Shamsolvaezin spoke about the issue in an interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), saying: “Four years ago, a legal case was filed against me due to the speech I gave at the World Press Freedom Awards Ceremony. I was eventually sentenced to 14 months imprisonment by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Courts. I then appealed this sentence and the case was referred to the Court of Appeals for review. The Court of Appeals held its hearing with the case officers four years ago but I have not been informed of any subsequent ruling made by the court and I have not undertaken any press or media activities since.”


End of Several Years of Silence

On January 19, 2019, Mashallah Shamsolvaezin received a summons to the Evin Prosecutor's Office which stated that he was required to present himself to the office within five days. 

On January 22, 2019, Shamsolvaezin spoke about the summons to IRNA, saying: “A few days ago, my wife went to the Prosecutor’s Office. They said to her that over the past few years I had been engaging in activities other than teaching farming and journalism lessons. However, I hadn’t been doing anything else. I don’t know if these summons were issued in relation to a former case or not but regardless, next Saturday I am going to present myself at the Prosecutor’s Office so that I can get some clarification on these summons.”

A few days later, Shamsolvaezin announced: “Just before the end of the working week, the Supreme Judicial Authority informed me that the summons against me had been made null and void and that I would not need to present myself to the Prosecutor’s Office.”

A few months later, on May 2, 2017, the Vice President of the Iranian Journalists' Association stated that a summons to the Evin Prosecutor's Office and an arrest warrant had been issued against Mashallah Shamsolvaezin.

The following day, security officials from the Evin Prosecutor's Office went to Shamsolvaezin’s house in order to present him with the warrant and arrest him. However, Shamsolvaezin was not at home at the time.

The Iranian Journalists’ Association said via its Telegram channel: “After learning about the summons, Shamsolvaezin expressed his surprise and stated that on his return to Tehran he would promptly report to the Evin Prosecutor’s office.”

Neither of the two prison sentences issued against Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, one for 14 months and the other for 16 months imprisonment, have yet been enforced. In recent years, Shamsolvaezin has not been very active in media and journalism work.