The Latest from Iran (8 April): A Prize for An Imprisoned Journalist

Ahmad Zeidabadi on trial in August 20091800 GMT: Clashes at Camp Ashraf. Representatives of Camp Ashraf, home to 3500 people including many members of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI), have said that Iraqi security forces killed at least 25 residents and wounded 320 in an attack in Diyala province, about 90 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad.

Ali al-Dabbagh, the spokesman for the Iraqi Government, said five members of the security forces were wounded. He did not give any casualty figures for residen, saying they threw rocks at security forces in a "riot".

A medical source said a hospital in nearby Baquba had received the bodies of three Iranians and that 16 other Iranians, five Iraqi soldiers, and one Iraqi policeman were brought to the hospital with injuries.

1630 GMT: Your Tehran Friday Prayer Summary. Hojatoleslam Kazem Seddiqi, known for his predictions of earthquakes, told his audience of more great movements in North Africa and the Middle East, “There has been a wave of [Islamic] awakening in regional nations and they revolted because they reached their capacity limit for [tolerating] oppression and there is no way for oppression to continue in the region.”

Seddiqi added the touch of opposing both Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi and the "West", declaring, “Today, the innocent people of Libya are being killed by both NATO forces and the country's evil and oppressive ruler [Muammar Gaddafi] whose mercenaries engage in killing and crime. The West says it has gone there to help people but has not been able to stop Qaddafi's aggression and crimes."

Seddiqi then explained that the US was the “supporter and creator of dictators” in the area.

The cleric made no reference, at least in the Press TV summary, to leaders inside Iran.

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0950 GMT: Relationship Counselling. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani has asked State television IRIB to broadcast programmes to help reduce Iran's rising divorce rate.

0850 GMT: Energy Watch. Mehr reports that three gas pipelines exploded on Tuesday in Qom, south of Tehran. No cause has been determined.

0605 GMT: Another Prize. The Thedor Haecker Prize of the City of Esslingen in Germany has been awarded to Shiva Nazar Ahari, activist and founding member of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters.

Nazar Ahari will be honoured on 17 April "for her dedication and courage" to establish CHRR, despite "personal risk", as well as her editing of the website Azad Zan ("Women's Liberation"). 

Nazar Ahari, detained just after the 2009 election, has been sentenced to six years in prison and 76 lashes. From the perspective of the organization Reporters Without Borders has the 26-year-old blogger and online activist only their right of speech, expression and association is utilized.

Parisa Kakaee, a fellow member of CHRR who has also been detained in the post-election repression, will accept the award of 10,000 euros on behalf of Nazar Ahari.

0550 GMT: We begin with the news that imprisoned journalist Ahmad Zeidabadi has been awarded this year’s UNESCO Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.

The UN organisation announced, after an international jury of 12 media professionals selected Zeidabadi, a“The final choice of Ahmad Zeidabadi pays a tribute to his exceptional courage, resistance and commitment to freedom of expression, democracy, human rights, tolerance, and humanity. Beyond him, also the Prize [will be awarded to] the numerous Iranian journalists who are currently jailed.”

Irina Bukova, Director-General of UNESCO called for the release of Zeidabadi from prison. The journalist,s arrested soon after the June 2009 election, has been sentenced to six year in prison and a permanent ban from social and political activity.

Zeidabadi is a former editor-in-chief of Azad newspaper and contributor to Hamshahri, BBC Persian, and Rooz. He was also awarded the Golden Pen of Freedom Award by the World Association of Newspapers in 2010 in recognition of outstanding action, in writing and deed, in the case of press freedom.

The prize and $25,000 will be awarded during World Press Freedom Day celebrations on 3 May.