Iranian sports reporter and photographer Maryam Majd has been arrested and jailed in Tehran’s Evin prison, according to the Los Angeles Times. The reason for her arrest is still unknown, but International Campaign for Human Rights reports that Majd phoned her family on 21 June, five days after she was taken from her home by Iranian security officials.
According to reports, the 25-year-old journalist and women’s rights activist was scheduled to fly to Düsseldorf, Germany to photograph the Women’s World Football Cup on 17 June. Majd is one of the few Iranian journalists who specializes in women’s sports and has been a staunch campaigner for the right of Iranian women to attend and publicly watch soccer matches.
Majd’s arrest was followed by the detention of two other female journalists and activists. Asr-e Eghtesad newspaper reporter Zahra Yazdani was seized by officials at her home on 21 June while documentary filmmaker Mahnaz Mohammadi was taken into custody on 24 June.
“IPI is outraged at the continued detention of journalists in Iran, which is one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists,” said IPI Director Alison Bethel McKenzie. “We call upon the Iranian authorities to recognize the fundamental right of journalists everywhere to do their job without fear of arrest, imprisonment, torture and harrassment.