Agents from the Ministry of Intelligence of Qazvin detained Mohammad Kimiayi who contributed to many reformist newspapers and the weekly “Hadith-e Qazvin”.

On Tuesday January 1st, several Intelligence agents violently raided the residence of Mr. Kimiayi and detained the journalist. After conducting a search of his home, a multitude of his personal items were confiscated including cartons of books along with documents.

His family who spent days perusing Kimiayi’s whereabouts were finally told he had been arrested, was under interrogations and would stay in “temporary detention” until his trial date. This journalist suffers from a heart condition.

Security officials have refused to give any reason for Mohammad Kimiayi’s arrest or disclose the charges against him. Most probably the arrest of this journalist was related to the closure of the weekly, “Hadith-e Qazvin.” Last week Security agents raided the offices of this weekly publication and detained several staff members and the magazine’s editor, Rahim Sarkar. The staff was released after several hours of interrogations and Rahim Sarkar is still being held in detention.

According to news sources, in the past month agents of the Security Agency have subjected scores of Qazvin’s activists and journalists to interrogations and many have been detained.

Source: Committee of Human Rights Reporters