Dozens of Iranian journalists flee after polls: rights group

AFP, Paris, Oct 14, 2009 – At least 35 journalists have left Iran out of fear for themselves and their families and 24 reporters and bloggers are still in jail following June’s disputed election, a press rights body said Wednesday.
’It is the biggest exodus of journalists since the revolution of 1979 (which brought the Islamic regime to power) and we are snowed under… there are many cases to deal with,’ said Reza Moini of the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders.
Moini put the number of journalists who had fled since the June 12 announcement of President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad’s re-election at 35 but estimated that the real number could be between 40 and 45.
’All of them are accused of acting against national security, of having taken part in illegal protests or of writing propaganda articles against the Islamic regime,’ he said, adding that 19 journalists and five bloggers were still being held by the Iranian authorities.
Tehran saw huge protests in the weeks following the announcement amid allegations from defeated candidates of massive electoral fraud.