Maziar Bahari

Maziar Bahari tells House committee that while there may be progress on the nuclear file, human rights abuses must not be ignored

Press TV, an English-language TV station based in London that functions as a propaganda arm of Iran’s foreign ministry, may soon lose its British licence after broadcasting a forced “confession” by Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari while he was jailed in Tehran’s notrious Evin Prison.

Hossein Derakhshan has been sentenced to more than 19 years in prison, according to an Iranian news source close to Iran’s presidential office.

Newsmakers of the week

Lawrence Cannon, today. The reasons behind our decision to boycott may be obvious, but are nonetheless worth repeating. Firstly, Iran has violated the human rights of its own citizens and foreign nationals, including Canadians Maziar Bahari (by unjustifiably detaining him) and Zahra Kazemi (whose death remains unexplained). This recently also has been demonstrated in its violent response against protestors following the fraudulent presidential election.

Here’s his take on the meeting, via the CBC. 

Dominic Lawson at The Times of London has a good piece about Press TV, Iran’s government-backed international English-language news network, and the Western reporters, or stooges, as he – I believe accurately – describes them, who work for it.

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