The lowest-ranking nation in the Middle East severely restricts the freedom of domestic and foreign press. Just this month, Iran arrested two Germans who entered the country on tourist visas allegedly to interview the family of a woman sentenced to death by stoning.
In underhanded praise, however, Reporters Without Borders highlights that Iran at least did not fall any lower in the World Press Freedom Index. "For its part, Iran held its position at the bottom of the Index. The crackdown on journalists and netizens which occurred just after the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2009 only strengthened in 2010," according to the annual report.
The Christian Science Monitor has detailed the media crackdown after the 2009 election. The New Yorker in August reported on continued reform and repression in the Islamic Republic. Author Jon Lee Anderson interviewed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:
When the interview turned to internal politics, Ahmadinejad denied the numerous reports about his government’s repression of reformists, journalists, and human-rights activists. “One of the problems of the leaders of the West is their lack of information about the issues of the world,” he said. “Show me a country in the West where eighty-five per cent of the people participate in Presidential elections! There aren’t any! Iran is the record-holder in democracy. . . . Today you can see that all my rivals and the so-called ‘opposition’ are free.” [...]
When I asked Ahmadinejad if he would allow me to interview [opposition leaders] Mousavi, Karroubi, and Khatami, he said, “Is it up to me to authorize someone to interview someone else? Everyone is free. Of course, some people may have some limitations within the judicial system; that is up to the judge; it has nothing to do with the government. There is freedom here. They all have Web sites, news channels, and newspapers, and they say whatever they want about me. No one disturbs them.”
