Coalition Urges Iran To Free Imprisoned Journalists

A coalition of international media organizations and publishers has launched a campaign to press Iran to release journalists imprisoned in the wake of June's disputed presidential election.

The coalition is comprised of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), PEN, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Index on Censorship, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, and the International Publishers Association.

It says they are acting out of "a sense of shared, urgent concern for the welfare of journalists, writers, and bloggers and a profound alarm over the situation for free expression in Iran."

The campaign is called "Our Society Will Be a Free Society" and is named after a pledge made by Ayatollah Khomeini during the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

In an open letter released today, the coalition calls on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to honor the original spirit of the Iranian Revolution and order the release of at least 60 writers, journalists, and bloggers currently in prison in Iran.