7 years imprisonment for Iranian journalist

Bahman Ahmadi Amouyi

Bahman Ahmadi Amouyi, prominent reformist journalist who has been detained since June 20 following the outbreak of protests against the allegedly fraudulent re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has been sentenced to seven years in prison. His sentence also includes 34 lashes.

Mr Amouyi was arrested on June 39 along with his wife, Zhila Bani-Yaghoub and was reported to have spent long periods in solitary confinement for complaining about the dismal conditions of the prison.

Farideh Gheyrat, the imprisoned journalist’s lawyer will appeal the sentence shortly.

In the past six months over 100 journalists have been arrested, 25 of which are still in prison.

Over seven newspapers have been shut down and yesterday six daily publications and a weekly magazine were threatened with closure for their publication of the opposition leader, MirHosein Mousavi’s latest announcement.