Yaghma Fakhshami is a journalist who has a long history of working with Roozan newspaper. He has been arrested twice due to his journalism concerning the Iranian judiciary. He was imprisoned in 2014 and 2017, spending a total of eight months in prison across the two sentences. 

In February 2020, Fakhshami’s house was raided and searched by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Intelligence Organization who seized and confiscated some of his personal belongings. This raid was part of a wider wave of pressure on Iranian journalists that occurred in February 2020.

First Arrest - 2014

On December 23, 2014, Roozan was suspended by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.

Prior to this, on December 20, 2014, Roozan had published a special edition for the fifth anniversary of the death of Grand Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri, who had been put under house arrest due to disagreements with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and, later, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The newspaper also published a photo of Ayatollah Montazeri on the front page of the edition. In addition to this the online version of the newspaper, Rooz Online, had published articles about imprisoned journalists for several years.

On December 24, 2014, the day after the newspaper was suspended, security forces arrested Yaghma Fakhshami and transferred him to prison.

Amir Fashkhami, Yaghma Fakhshami’s brother, spoke to Insaf News about his concern for his brother’s condition at that time, saying, “I was denied permission to visit Yaghma. I wrote a letter to his interrogator requesting to meet with my brother, I went to Evin Prison and waited for hours, but I was still not allowed to see him. I was only able to make one telephone call each week. During my phone call with Yaghma, I found out that he was in poor health. Yaghma had been arrested along with three other individuals, they all wrote a letter of protest against this and they were told it would take one week for them to receive an answer.”

At that time, a member of the editorial board of Roozan newspaper told an IranWire reporter that it was very likely that the publication of the Ayatollah Montazeri special edition, and the printing of his photo on their front page as well as an article entitled “Listening to Mohammad Khatami’s phone calls and making these available to the Tasnim News Agency,” were the main reasons for the suspension of Roozan and Fakhshami’s arrest.

Yaghma Fakhshami spent approximately four months in prison but was released on bail for a million tomans on April 13, 2015.

The suspension on Roozan newspaper was lifted in mid-February 2016.

Second Arrest - 2017

Yaghma Fakhshami was arrested for the second time on August 21, 2017, while working for Roozan.

After four months, on December 21, 2017, Fakhshami was released from prison on bail.

The reason for this arrest has not been disclosed by officials.

On September 18, 2017, the International Federation of Journalists published a statement calling for Yaghma Fakhshami’s release from prison.

House Raid - 2020

On February 2, 2020, agents from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Intelligence Organization raided and searched Fakhshami’s house and confiscated a number of his personal belongings including his computer, his tablet and mobile telephone. The security forces then demanded that he report to their offices at a later date and place which they would determine.

Fakhshami is currently free but his personal Twitter page has been inaccessible since February 2020.

On February 22, 2020, Reporters Without Borders published a statement which listed the names of journalists, including Yaghma Fakhshami, who had been arbitrarily and illegally detained by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Intelligence Organization. The statement also condemned the harassment and suppression of all Iranian journalists.