The Franco-German channel Arte called on Tuesday for the release of Iranian journalist Vahid Shamsoddinnezhad, one month after his arrest in Iranian Kurdistan. (Credit: Illustration photo AFP)
BEIRUT — Reporters Without Borders, the National Union of Journalists (SNJ), the Franco-German channel Arte and the Ecole Supérieure de Journalisme (ESJ) in Lille, northern France, called on Tuesday for the release of Iranian journalist Vahid Shamsoddinnezhad, one month after his arrest in Iranian Kurdistan.
Arrested in Saqqez, in Iranian Kurdistan, on Sept. 28, "Vahid Shamsoddinnezhad was just doing his job," the union lamented.
The SNJ called for "the immediate intervention of the French government" to demand the release of the Iranian journalist. Shamsoddinnezhad graduated from the school of journalism in September and is the father of a baby born last year in Lille.
For its part, Arte called for his release and said the journalist, living "in France, legally with his wife since 2020," was "mandated by the company Keyi Productions" and the editorial staff of the Franco-German channel "to cover the events that shook Iran."
"Vahid Shamsoddinnezhad deposited, on Sept. 24, the letter of accreditation of Arte as well as the coordinates of his French press card, with the authorities in Tehran," added the channel. "In the days that followed, he was able to conduct two telephone interviews and a video subject for the editorial staff of Arte Journal." He is now being held in Tehran and is under investigation.
Reporters Without Borders said it was "fully mobilized to obtain his release and that of the 43 other journalists" imprisoned in Iran.