US citizen sentenced in Tehran protests; neocons charge Obama with betrayal
Iran's Justice Ministry’s announced Oct. 20 that Iranian-American scholar Kian Tajbakhsh has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role in the post-electoral protests. Tajbakhsh appeared at a mass trial of opposition leaders, accused of contacting foreign agents and endangering national security. During the trial, Tajbakhsh provided a vague confession which rights groups suspect was coerced, outlining his role in fomenting resistance to the June election in Iran.
According to Amnesty International, many of the defendants in the trial were not given adequate access to legal representation during their trial, and were intimidated into giving confessions that were the basis for their sentences. The few other figures thus far been convicted in the mass trial have received sentences of 5-6 years.
White House officials have repeatedly called on Tehran to release Tajbaksh, who was the only US citizen included in the mass trials that followed the post-election unrest. He also spent four months in prison in 2007 on charges of endangering national security.
The charges against Tajbaksh included being a consultant for George Soros' Open Society Institute, which the indictment identified as a CIA satellite institution devoted to fomenting "velvet revolutions" in Iran and elsewhere. Tajbaksh was also charged with belonging to an e-mail list, Gulf/2000, run by Gary Sick, a professor at Columbia University identified in the indictment as a CIA agent. (NIAC, Oct. 22; NYT, Oct. 21
The sentencing comes as the Obama administration is coming under attack from neocon critics for allegedly betraying the Iranian opposition. The BBC recently reported Obama's State Department "has all but dismantled the Iran Democracy Fund"—federal funding to a classified list of dissident groups in Iran. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) observed, "It is disturbing that the State Department would cut off funding at precisely the moment when...needed most.'" (Jewish Policy Center, Oct. 21)
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Reporter detained in Tehran protests
An Iranian reporter for Agence France-Presse was detained by the authorities during coverage of events observing the 30th anniversary of the takeover of the US Embassy Nov. 4. AFP's acting bureau chief in Tehran said the reporter, Farhad Pouladi, was taken into custody as he headed out to cover a state-sanctioned rally outside the former embassy. Not far from that rally, protesters clashed with riot police in a counter-demonstration. (AP, Nov. 5)
Five sentenced to death in Iran protests
Iranian state TV reported Nov. 17 that five people have been sentenced to death over the protests that followed thedisputed presidential election in June. The report quoted a statement by the Justice Department saying that the five were members of terrorist and armed opposition groups. Iran began a trial in August for more than 100 prominent opposition figures and activists over the election protests. At least three others caught up in the turmoil have also received death sentences. (AP, Nov. 17)
Reporter claims abuse at hands of Iran jailers
Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari meanwhile says he was regularly beaten and threatened with execution while imprisoned in Iran for 118 days. Bahari was reporting for Newsweek when he was arrested at his home on June 21. After a worldwide campaign for his freedom he was released from prison in October and reunited with his wife in London just in time for the birth of their first child. (CBC, Nov. 22)