Saeed Madani, Freelance
Medium:Print
Charge:Anti-state
Imprisoned:January 7, 2012

Security forces arrested Madani, a former editorial board member of the long-defunct Iran-e-Farda magazine and the former editor-in-chief of the quarterly Refah-e-Ejtemaee (Journal of Social Welfare), and confiscated a computer hard drive from his home, news reports said.

The journalist was placed in solitary confinement after his arrest, Madani's wife, Mansoureh Ettefagh, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran in March 2012. She also said their family had not been told of his condition in prison. The reformist news website Kaleme reported that Madani had been subjected to violent interrogations.

Madani faced trial on January 16, 2013, at a Tehran Revolutionary Court on charges of "propaganda against the state" and "assembly and collusion," and offered a statement in his own defense, news reports said.

Madani's wife told Kaleme in June 2013 that a Tehran Revolutionary Court had sentenced Madani to six years in prison in the southern city of Bandar Abbas and 10 years' exile to the same city on charges of "assembly and collusion with the intent to commit a crime against national security" and "propaganda against the Islamic Republic to benefit regime opposition groups." An appeals court upheld Madani's sentence on February 19, 2014, according to the BBC's Persian service.

This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.