The Media, Human Rights and Iran
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Iran Media-Monitoring Study 1 July–30 September 2007 By Victor Kattan* This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication is the sole responsibility of BIICL and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. * The author is a Research Fellow at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law. He would like to thank Amir Nakhjavani for his assistance in preparing the chapter on the Iranian media. 1 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 3 2. Summary of Findings........................................................................................................... 5 3. The Media Monitoring Study ............................................................................................... 6 3.1 Scope of Study................................................................................................................ 6 3.2. The Media in Iran ........................................................................................................... 6 3.3 Important Developments ................................................................................................. 7 4. The Media, Human Rights and Iran.................................................................................... 8 4.1 Right to Life/Enforced Disappearances .......................................................................... 8 4.2 Torture, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment ................................................................... 11 4.3 Right to Liberty and Security ......................................................................................... 12 4.4 Freedom of Movement .................................................................................................. 14 4.5 Right to a Fair Trial........................................................................................................ 14 4.6 Right to Respect for Private and Family life.................................................................. 15 4.7 Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion............................................................ 15 4.8 Freedom of Expression ................................................................................................. 15 4.9 Freedom of Assembly & Association ............................................................................ 17 4.10 Right to Adequate Housing ......................................................................................... 17 4.11 Right to Work and Rights in Work............................................................................... 17 4.12 Cultural Rights............................................................................................................. 18 4.13 Right to Education (and Student Life) ......................................................................... 19 4.14 Women’s Rights .......................................................................................................... 19 4.15 Minority Rights............................................................................................................. 20 4.16 Children’s Rights ......................................................................................................... 21 5. The Iranian Press............................................................................................................... 22 5.1 Right to Life/Enforced Disappearances ........................................................................ 22 5.2 Torture, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment ................................................................... 24 5.3 Right to Liberty and Security ......................................................................................... 25 5.4 Freedom of Movement .................................................................................................. 25 5.5 Right to a Fair Trial........................................................................................................ 25 5.6 Right to Respect for Private and Family life.................................................................. 26 5.7 Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion............................................................ 26 5.8 Freedom of Expression ................................................................................................. 26 5.9 Freedom of Assembly & Association ............................................................................ 29 5.10 Right to Adequate Housing ......................................................................................... 30 5.11 Right to Work and Rights in Work............................................................................... 30 5.12 Cultural Rights............................................................................................................. 31 5.13 Right to Education (and Student Life) ......................................................................... 31 5.14 Women’s Rights .......................................................................................................... 31 5.15 Minority Rights............................................................................................................. 32 5.16 Children’s Rights ......................................................................................................... 32 6. Results of Findings............................................................................................................. 33 7. Analysis............................................................................................................................... 36 8. Conclusions ........................................................................................................................ 38 Appendix: Summaries of Country Reports........................................................................... 40 2 1. Introduction The aim of this second media-monitoring study is similar to the first: to analyse how the local and the international media report human rights stories from Iran. The objective of these studies is to identify and analyse any disparities in the reporting of human rights stories in Iran, in order to gain an overall picture of the way in which such stories are reported there and in the other countries being monitored. The third report will compare and analyse the findings of these two studies. There is a separate chapter in this report devoted to the Iranian media (chapter five), as it was thought that separating it from the Western media would aid the reader. A number of national rapporteurs (from Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Poland, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the USA), including three additional rapporteurs (from Australia, Spain and Turkey), monitored the papers outlined below for three months in 2007 and wrote monthly reports, which they then analysed. The participants in the present study included: Australia—Kristi Cooper Austria—Lena Kayhan-Rad Canada— Salman Haq France—Amy Herrick Germany—Martina Warning Italy—Pejman Abdolmohammadi Iran—Kourosh Taheri Poland—Anna Tomaszewska Russia—Victoria Rogova Spain—Iñaki Garcia Blanco Turkey—Sezin Lalecelir United Kingdom—Victor Kattan USA – Brian Oliner The newspapers listed below were monitored on a daily basis for human rights stories on Iran from 1 July to 30 September 2007(excluding weekends and public holidays): Australia: Australian, Australian Financial Review, Daily Telegraph, Sydney Morning Herald and West Australian. Austria: Die Presse, Der Standard, Die Neue Krone and Österrich. Canada: The Globe and Mail, The National Post, The Toronto Star and La Presse. France: Le Monde, Le Figaro and Libération. Germany: BILD, Die Welt, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Der Spiegel and Die Zeit. Italy: La Repubblica, Il Corriere della Sera and Il Giornale. Poland: Super Ekspress, Fakt, Gazeta Wyborcza and Dziennik Polska Europa Swiat. Russia: Izvestiya, Kommersant, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Rossiiskaya Gazeta and The Moscow Times. Spain: ABC, El Mundo, El País and La Vanguardia. Turkey: Hurriyet Daily, Sabah Daily, Milliyet Daily, Zaman Daily and Turkish Daily News. United Kingdom: Daily Mail, The Guardian, The Sun, Financial Times, Daily Telegraph, Daily Express and The Times. USA: Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. These newspapers were chosen on the basis of their circulation figures and their accessibility. Most of the papers were monitored online or via Lexis Nexis. In addition to the newspapers mentioned above, the following news outlets were monitored on a daily basis to ascertain which stories were not being picked up by the printed press (this list is not exhaustive): 3 Agence France-Presse Amnesty International Associated Press BBC News Online and BBC Monitoring World Service Human Rights Watch Iran Focus Iran Press Service Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) Iran Students News Agency (ISNA) Reporters Without Borders (also known as Reporters Sans Frontiers) UN News Service The author of this report received press reports from the British Embassy and UNICEF in Tehran after his field trip to Iran in March 2007, where he met with officials from the Government, UN agencies, journalists, NGOs and diplomats. Note on terminology: The term ‘Western press’ or ‘the West’