Intelligence ministry denies detained Iranian journalist leave

Mahdieh Mohammadi and her children

Mahdieh Mohammadi, wife of incarcerated Iranian journalist, Ahmad Zeidabadi, announced that the Ministry of Intelligence does not allow her husband to go on furlough.

In an interview with Kaleme website she added: “We have applied for a temporary leave at least six times. One was personally hand-delivered to Tehran’s Prosecutor, Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi, by my husband but Mr. Dowlatabadi told him that he cannot do anything for him. It appears that rather than the judiciary it is the Ministry of Intelligence that has to allow my husband to get a temporary leave.”

Mahdieh Mohammadi referred to the past year and a half that her husband has been in jail as the “bitterest” time of her life adding: “in an iPhone capture, I saw my husband being dragged and forced away by government officials.”

As Zeidabadi’s sentence also includes a lifetime ban on his writing, he has even refrained from writing letters to his wife.

Mohammadi reports that she is allowed to visit her husband once every two weeks and expressed dismay that he will have to remain in prison for another four and a half years.

She added that even after his release we will be in constant fear of him being arrested again.

She stated that this fear has been with them since ten years ago with the first arrest of Ahmad Zeidabadi.

Mohammadi went on to say that she is very proud and happy that her husband has been awarded the Golden Pen of Freedom; however, she added that it is also a cause for concern because such awards entail greater sensitivity from the authorities and her husband could lose his minimal privileges in prison because of it.

Ahmad Zeidabadi was arrested the day after the controversial 2009 presidential elections and has been sentenced to six years in prison, five years exile to Gonabad and lifetime ban from political and journalistic activities.

He is currently in Rejaishahr Prison in Karaj.

The annual press freedom prize of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers has awarded Zeidabadi with the 2010 Golden Pen of Freedom, and Akbar Ganji, Iranian journalist, received the award on his behalf, two weeks ago.