Watchdog

Human rights experts from the United Nations have called on Iran to stop arresting, prosecuting, and harassing journalists and online activists ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for early 2016.

Ahmed Shaheed, the UN special rapporteur on Iran, said on November 11 that “increasing intimidation of journalists” in Iran is “hindering their ability to operate freely in the country.”

Shaheed said there appears to be a new crackdown on freedom of expression and media in Iran, with intelligence and security officials arresting a number of journalists.

He said he was particularly concerned about the arrests on November 2 of five journalists by plainclothes members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

According to Iranian state media reports, the journalists were detained on suspicion of “taking part in an infiltration network, seeking to influence public opinion, and undermining the Islamic republic on behalf of Western governments.”

Iran is one of the leading jailers of journalists and social activists in the world.

The European Union's has accused Turkey of backsliding on the rule of law, human rights, and press freedom in its latest report about progress by countries seeking to join the bloc.

The November 10 report, which Brussels held back until after Turkey's November 1 elections, praised Ankara for housing Syrian refugees and for cooperating on the the migrant crisis.

But it criticizes Turkey's government for what it said were curtailments on freedom of expression and for undermining the independence of Turkey's judiciary.

The report is part of an annual package on progress by countries aspiring to join the EU.

Turkey has been seeking EU membership since 1987, but the negotiations have frequently ground to a halt -- mostly because of opposition from France and Germany and Turkey's tensions with EU-member Cyprus.

The other EU membership hopefuls for which the commission issued progress reports on November 10 are Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia.

But European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has said that he does not expect any new countries to join the bloc before 2019.

Based on reporting by dpa and AFP