Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President, Iran

Since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed reelection on 12 June 2009, the opposition has been mercilessly and violently repressed. Many journalists have alternated in the past year and a half between arbitrary detention and being under surveillance, forcing many to flee abroad for fear the next arrest could mean longer imprisonment. More than 200 journalists and bloggers have been arrested, 40 are still in prison and 100 or so have left the country, the biggest exodus since the 1979 revolution. Ahmadinejad is directly responsible for this crackdown, which he organises with the ministries of intelligence, culture and Islamic guidance and the Revolutionary Guards. He also closely supervises the list of journalists to be arbitrarily arrested. A score of media outlets have been shut down by the culture ministry's censorship arm, the Press Authorisation and Surveillance Commission. The government hounds journalists and their families, makes summary arrests and uses secret imprisonment to silence its critics.

The state monopoly of broadcast media continues, private ownership of satellite dishes forbidden and the government does all it can to stop foreign radio and TV broadcasts in Persian being picked up in Iran. Foreign media are closely watched and their local correspondents risk losing their accreditation at any time. Many foreign journalists were unable to get their visas extended in 2011 and had to leave the country. International organisations very rarely get permission to visit Iran.

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