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Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian opposition website says that an imprisoned filmaker has been badly beaten and his sight damaged.
Mohammad Nourizad was sentenced to three and a half years in prison in April on charges of spreading propaganda against the government and insulting the country's leaders.
The Kaleme website said Thursday that after the beating he was put in solitary confinement and is now on a hunger strike. The site did not give its sources but mentioned that Nourizad had spoken with his family.
The filmmaker was arrested in November after sending a letter to the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urging him to apologize to the nation for the bloody crackdown on the opposition after the disputed June presidential elections.
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Iran remains world’s worst jailer of journalists
Mohammad Nourizad, freelance
Imprisoned: December 20, 2009
Imprisoned: December 20, 2009
CHRR
Nourizad, a blogger and documentary filmmaker, was arrested after he wrote an open letter to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei urging him to apologize for the government's post-election conduct, along with an article criticizing the head of Iran's judiciary, the BBC Persian service reported. Security officers raided Nourizad's home on January 5, 2010, seizing his computer and documents, according to the pro-opposition news Web site Jonbesh-e Rah-e Sabz.
Nourizad, who is being held at Evin Prison, has waged a hunger strike, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency. Jonbesh-e-Rah-e-Sabz reported that Nourizad's wife was denied visitation rights.
Nourizad had once written for Kayhan, a newspaper closely associated with conservative elements in the government, but he distanced himself from the publication after the disputed June presidential election. Kayhan has repeatedly attacked Nourizad and his writing since that time, according to CPJ research.
On April 24, Nourizad wrote another open letter to Khamenei from his prison cell at Evin Prison, criticizing him for his conduct and his treatment of the Iranian people, several news Web sites reported.
Nourizad was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and 50 lashes by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Courts on charges that included “propagation against the regime” and “insulting the Supreme Leader, the president, [and] the head of the judiciary,” the reformist news Web site Kalame reported on April 28. Nourizad’s lawyer, Mohammad Alizadeh Tabatabaee, said he would file an appeal, according to Jonbesh-e Rah-e Sabz.
