Authorities sent Keyvan Mehregan to Evin Prison on four separate occasions, including during the aftermath of the 2009 election. Charges against him include propaganda against the regime.
Name: Keyvan Mehregan
Career: Journalist and poet; former political editor at Etemad; has also worked for Shargh and Roozegaar.
Charges: Propaganda against the regime and affiliation to the Freedom Movement of Iran, a political coalition.
Keyvan Mehregan has been arrested several times in recent years – the first time during the aftermath of the disputed 2009 presidential election, when he was the political editor at Etemad.
In the days following his arrest, authorities refused to disclose information as to his whereabouts, despite the fact his brother wrote a letter to Sadegh Larijani, the head of the judiciary. It was later revealed he had been in solitary confinement at Ward 209 of Evin Prison, where he remained for two months. During that time, he had to be taken several times to the prison clinic for health reasons.
He was eventually released on bail on March 2, 2010. His case was sent to Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Salavati. He sentenced him to three years in prison and later suspended the sentence for four years.
On December 7, 2010, Mehragan was arrested for a second time at the headquarters of Shargh newspaper, along with several other reporters. He was once again sent to solitary confinement at Ward 209 at Evin, where he remained until his release on bail on January 17, 2011.
His third arrest was on June 13, 2011 after he attended the funeral of Hoda Saber, a journalist and political activist who died due to medical neglect whilst on hunger strike in prison. Mehregan was again tried at the Revolutionary Court; Judge Salavati sentenced him to a year in prison and banned him from engaging in any journalistic or political activities for five years. He spent two months in detention before being released on bail.
On January 28, 2013 Mehregan was summoned to court on new charges and was arrested a fourth time. He was once again detained at Evin Prison until February 23, when he was released on bail.
For more information, visit Journalism is Not a Crime, documenting cases of jailed journalists in This is part of IranWire’s series Crime: Journalism, a portfolio on the legal and political persecution of Iranian journalists and bloggers, published in both Persian and English.
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