President reacts to arrest of his media advisor, IRNA chief
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
New York, Sept 27, IRNA -- IRI president asked in his press conference about his arrested media affairs advisor, Iran Publications caretaker and IRNA Managing Director Ali-Akbar Javanfekr, said, “I would elaborate on the matter later on.”
The reporter of an Italian daily had asked President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about the matter during his Wednesday evening press conference following his last UN General Assembly address.
The president added, “I, too, received the news moments ago, and I would opine about the matter after surveying the issue thoroughly.”
He emphasized, “I hope no one would be imprisoned throughout the world, particularly if he or she is a member of the media folks.”
President Ahmadinejad meanwhile condoled with the press on the sad news of the yesterday martyrdom of a Press TV reporter, arguing, “The news about this matter was saddening and I believe the reporters’ safety should be respected worldwide and the free flow of information must be respected everywhere.”
Ahmadinejad condoled with world media reporter on the martyrdom of the Press TV reporter and particularly sympathized with her colleagues at the IRIB.
IRNA Managing Director and presidential advisor for press affairs Ali-Akbar Javanfekr was arrested Wednesday.
Tehran Penal Court in November 2011 had sentenced Javanfekr to six months in prison on charges of publishing articles contrary to Islamic regulations and six more months in prison for unethical articles.
The court also banned the IRNA Chief from any kind of occupation and press activity, including governmental and private ones, for three years.
Three months later, however, the bench 32 of the Supreme Court rejected the Tehran Penal Court ruling on the case of Khatun publication and discarded the six month imprisonment of Javanfekr and agreed to other six-month prison term.
Tehran Penal Court had sentenced Javanfekr for several crimes but Supreme Court turned them down and said all the charges account for one crime so he should be subject to one punishment.
Javanfekr had already called for enforcement of Article 18 of the Constitution calling on the General and Revolutionary Courts to hold a session to look into his objection to the six-month imprisonment ruling.
Javanfekr has newly been acquitted of a charge raised by the General Inspection Organization.
Snipers in Damascus killed the correspondent for Iran's Press TV and wounded the network's bureau chief on Wednesday as they reported from the site of twin bomb blasts near Syrian army headquarters, the channel said, cited by AFP.
'Press TV correspondent Maya Nasser has been killed by sniper fire in the Syrian capital, Damascus,' Press TV said in a bulletin on its news website.
Hussein Morteza, a Lebanese national who headed the bureau in Damascus for both Press TV and another Iranian network, and the IRIB Arabic news network Al-Alam, was shot in the back by sniper fire and wounded, both channels said.
Nasser and Morteza were targeted when they arrived at the site of the twin bombings near the headquarters of the Syrian armed forces general staff in the capital's heavily guarded Umayyad Square district.
Press TV was not immediately able to give Nasser's nationality.
Press TV, which broadcasts in English, and Al-Alam, an Arabic-language network, are financed by the Iranian government, which is fully supporting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in its struggle against an 18-month rebellion.
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Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 80342792
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