MEAA Media condemns arrest of journalists in Iran

The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA), the union and professional association for Australia’s journalists, condemns the widespread arrests of journalists in Iran.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 40 journalists had been arrested up to October 10. The arrests have been carried out amid protests over the death in morality-police custody of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, who was detained for allegedly violating the country’s conservative dress law. She died on September 16.

MEAA Media Federal President Karen Percy said: “This wholesale crackdown on journalists is an outrageous assault on press freedom. MEAA calls on the Iranian authorities to release all our colleagues who have been arrested while carrying out their professional duties.

“It is vital that the media is able to report the truth. The Iranian people have a right to information and journalists must be allowed to report, including reporting dissenting voices in the community, without hindrance from the authorities.

“The repression and widespread violence that has been unleashed on the Iranian people is condemned. The authorities must put a stop these assaults and listen to the voices of the people and to the journalists who must be allowed to keep their communities informed,” Ms Percy said.