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Iranian Writers Detained, Abducted


Alireza Saghafi is editor of the monthly "Rahe Ayandeh."
Alireza Saghafi is editor of the monthly "Rahe Ayandeh."
One member of the Iranian Writers Association has been detained and another abducted in recent days, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports.

Writer Alireza Saghafi was detained by authorities on February 1 after being summoned to the Intelligence Ministry.

Saghafi, also a labor activist, had been arrested for participating in a labor demonstration. He had previously been jailed for one month and released on bail.

Simin Behbahani, a poet and one of the writers association's most prominent members, told RFE/RL that "making such arrests without any good reason is nothing new.... Over the years, [some of] our members have been killed or arrested."

Behbahani said Saghafi's wife had told her that security forces confiscated her husband's writings. "Members of the Iranian Writers Association, as the rest of the people living in Iran, have no security," Behbahani said.

Another writer, Reza Khandan, was allegedly abducted on January 29 on a Tehran street. Khandan is the co-editor of the "Iranian Legends and Fairy Tales Encyclopedia." He has not been seen since his incident.
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