Watchdog

More than 100 protesters in the Russian city of Saratov have expressed their solidarity with a regional media baron who was severely beaten on March 5.

Vadim Rogozhin, the owner of the Vzglyad media holding company, was attacked by unknown assailants on his way home.

RFE/RL's Russian Service reports from Saratov that representatives of the regional branch of Russia's Union of Journalists, local NGOs, and human rights activists, as well ordinary citizens, gathered in the city center to show their support.

Some held signs saying, "Who Ordered It? Find Them," "Stop Terrorizing Journalists," and, "No To Censorship, Yes To Freedom Of Speech!"

Rogozhin is still in the hospital, where his condition is listed as serious but stable.

Rogozhin's colleagues believe the attack is likely connected to his professional activities.

Iranian authorities blocked human rights lawyer Nasser Zarafshan from boarding a plane to Brussels on March 15 and confiscated his passport, Radio Farda reported.

Zarafshan, who was planning to travel to a forum on environmental issues, told Radio Farda that officials said an "open file in the judiciary" blocked him from traveling as of 10 months ago.

"I do not believe there is a case against me," Zarafshan said. "I am not aware of it. I have been in constant contact with the judiciary lately and they could summon me or even arrest me if they saw the necessity."

Zarafshan, a former political prisoner, has served as an advocate in some of the country's most controversial human rights cases, including the trial of suspects in the murders of Iranian intellectuals in 1998.