2016 prison census - Iran: Afarin Chitsaz
| Publisher | Committee to Protect Journalists |
| Publication Date | 1 December 2016 |
| Cite as | Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - Iran: Afarin Chitsaz, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb88a4.html [accessed 30 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
| Afarin Chitsaz, Iran | |
|---|---|
| Medium: | |
| Charge: | Anti-State |
| Imprisoned: | November 2, 2015 |
Intelligence officers of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps arrested Chitsaz, a columnist for Iran, a popular state newspaper affiliated with IRNA, Iran's official news agency, on November 2, 2015, according to local news reports. The next day, local media outlets with close ties to the Revolutionary Guards reported that five local journalists had been arrested for being part of an "infiltration network" with links to Western countries. Saham News, a news website with close ties to detained opposition leader Mehdi Karoubi, reported that Chitsaz was one of the five journalists.
Chitsaz is a former actress and costume designer. She began working as a journalist in recent years and mostly covered foreign policy stories. Saham News reported that she was closely associated with high-profile officials in President Hassan Rouhani's government, but did not elaborate.
On March 26, 2016, Branch 28 of Tehran Revolutionary Court convicted Chitsaz of "assembly and collusion with the intent to disrupt national security" and "collaboration with a foreign government" and sentenced her to 10 years in prison. On April 29, the journalist's mother told BBC Persian that her daughter had been held in solitary confinement in Evin prison for six months that and her interrogators had subjected her to physical abuse. In September 2016, Branch 36 of Tehran's Appellate Court reduced the journalist's sentence to two years in prison.
On July 5, 2016, Chitsaz was granted a three-day furlough on bail of 10 billion riyals (roughly US$320,000), according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI). She returned to prison. According to ICHRI, on July 21 she was transferred to a hospital to undergo surgery for her right knee. On September 10, she returned to Evin prison.
On September 28, 2016 the reformist news website Kalameh reported that Chitsaz had fainted from knee pain while climbing stairs in Evin prison, and that she had been denied family visits.
A family member, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, told CPJ that the journalist had not had knee problems prior to her incarceration, but that now Chitsaz needs surgery for both her knees, including the one doctors had already treated.
