Ali Farahbakhsh

Ali Farahbakhsh is a notable Iranian business journalist who spent 11 months in jail in Iran for attending a conference in Bangkok in 2006.

Ali Farahbakhsh is a freelance business journalist who worked for several pro-reform newspapers including "Yas-e No" and "Shargh" (which were closed by the judiciary) and the daily newspaper "Sarmayeh". On November 27 2006 he was arrested immediately after returning to Tehran from a meeting of civil groups - "a general discussion of government and the media" - held in Bangkok, Thailand. He was held by authorities incommunicado and in solitary confinement without charges for 40 days. His family had been ordered not to talk about his arrest and it was only made public on 7 January 2007 by Tehran prison system director Sohrabe Soleymani. [ [http://www.bangkokpost.net/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=115805 Bangkok Post Breaking News. Thai meeting causes Iranian arrest] ] [ [http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=21504 rsf.org 13 April 2007, Journalist freed on bail] ]

After refusing to "confess" to charges of having ties to outside agencies, on 26 March 2007 he was sentenced by a Tehran revolutionary court to three years in prison and a fine of 52,000 euros on a charge of spying. [ [http://www.iranian.com/Kaviani/2007/April/Farahbakhsh/index.html iranian.com: Nazy Kaviani, For Ali Farahbakhsh, April 2, 2007] ] He was released on October 9 2007 after spending 11 months in jail.

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External links

* [http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/01/68263B8C-A3F9-4910-A6D4-20F3F3F70153.html Iranian Journalists Union Concerned Over Arrested Reporter]
* [http://www.irvl.net/six_snapshots.htm Iranian Economy in Six Snapshots]