Deporting, arresting and silencing the messengers

Since yesterday's post, which noted that Jon Leyne, the BBC's Tehran correspondent, had been given 24 hours to leave Iran, the situation for journalists there has become much worse. Newsweek reporter Maziar Bahari was arrested yesterday morning and has not been heard from since. Bahari, a Canadian citizen, has been living in Tehran for the past decade. His most recent article for Newsweek was "Who's Behind Teheran's Violence?" It looked at rumours that pro-Ahmadinejad groups were organizing violent incidents at their rallies to undermine support for the opposition movement.

Meanwhile, the Paris-based organization Reporters Without Borders, which is tracking the press clampdown in Iran, says that 23 journalists have been arrested since the disputed 12 June presidential election. Among those arrested on Saturday was Ali Mazroui, the head of the Association of Iranian Journalists. The news daily Roozonline.com reported last week that security forces had broken into Mazroui's house, saying they were looking for his son Hanif Mazrui, a journalist and blogger.

Even before to the presidential election, Iran had routinely jailed popular bloggers, notably Hossein Derakhshan, an Iranian-Canadian who was detained last November and charged with spying for Israel. He has not been heard from since.