RSF Calls For Journalists' Release In Iran's Kurdish Northwest

(RFE/RL) March 14, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- A leading media rights group is calling for the release of four journalists held in Iran's Kurdish northwest.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said authorities had no evidence the four were guilty of any crime.

It's not clear what charges, if any, have been brought against the four -- Aso Salah of the weekly "Didgagh," Kia Jahani, a contributor to the Kurdish-language television station Kurdistan TV, Adnan Hassanpour of the weekly "Asou," Kaveh Javanmard of the weekly "Karfto" -- who were arrested over the past three months.

The Paris-based organization said journalists in the Kurdish part of Iran were being arrested "arbitrarily" and held incommunicado with increasing frequency.

It said Iran continued to be the Middle East's biggest prison for journalists, with a total of seven detained.