AFP: Iran has sentenced a freelance photographer for Getty Images photo agency to three years in prison for taking pictures of 2009 election protests, an opposition website reported on Sunday.
TEHRAN, June 20, 2010 (AFP) – Iran has sentenced a freelance photographer for Getty Images photo agency to three years in prison for taking pictures of 2009 election protests, an opposition website reported on Sunday.
“Majid Saeedi was sentenced to three years in prison,” Kaleme.com, the website of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, reported without providing any more details.
Saeedi, an Iranian, was arrested in July 2009 along with another local photographer for sending pictures of protests against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election to foreign media.
He was released on bail after over a month in detention.
Saeedi has been taking pictures for two decades and has also worked as a photo editor for Iran’s hardline Fars news agency and several local newspapers.
Iranian authorities banned reporters working for foreign media from covering opposition demonstrations on June 16 last year a day after a massive protest march around Tehran’s Azadi (freedom) square.
The opposition charged the June 12 poll was rigged to keep Ahmadinejad in power, and the authorities cracked down heavily on government critics, arresting scores of senior reformists, journalists and rights activists.
Some have stood trial and sentenced to years in jail.
