Iranian authorities arrest "collaborators of Radio Farda"

Iranian Ministry of Intelligence arrested seven people accused of “ties with Radio Farda.” While the announcement by the Ministry does not refer to the identity of the detainees, it does claim that they “had gone through the hiring and training process in Dubai and Istanbul."

ILNA reports that the Ministry claims some of these individuals are “official employees” of the US intelligence service and have been trained in “various methods of soft sedition including disturbing public order and security, spreading rumours and various other destructive activities.”

The announcement also claims the detainees “had a major role in collecting and relaying news abroad and provoking rioters in the post-election disturbances, especially on Ashura Day.”

The Ministry maintains that these individuals “were supposed to carry out similar activities on February 11 and then leave the country and join Americans.”

In the past two weeks, over ten journalists have been arrested by the Intelligence Ministry.

Over 100 journalists have been arrested since the start of election protests in June and about forty of them are still in prison. Several of them have been handed heavy prison terms while others have been released on exorbitant amounts of bail.

Earlier the Ministry of Intelligence had banned any collaboration with Radio Farda and other Persian language media abroad.

Radio Farda is the successor of Voice of America's Persian service based in Prague and Washington, D.C.