StoryKnown for his freedom of speech and his investigations into corruption, this Iranian reporter had to flee Tehran in January to escape convictions from the Revolutionary Guards. He crossed the border with Turkey on foot to find refuge in Ankara.
This man always dresses in black and walks carefully, for fear of being followed. When he speaks, it is in a low voice, in the tone of confidence. Mohammad Mosaed is young, 31 years old, but he measures the price of freedom: this Iranian journalist exiled in Turkey knows that the agents of the Islamic Republic have made this country their backyard, not hesitating to carry out operations there kidnapping and murder of opponents. Hence his mistrust, his sunglasses, and this desire to go as unnoticed as possible.
In his previous life, Mohammad Mosaed was far from discreet. His outspokenness and his investigations into corruption made him a figure in Iranian journalism. But on January 17, after an exhausting legal battle, he preferred to flee.
A few days earlier, his sentence of four years and nine months in prison – together with a two-year ban from practicing his profession and the confiscation of his communication devices – had been confirmed on appeal. His faults? Have given a “Dark picture” of the country’s situation and have “Influenced readers who do not have clear ideas”. An absolute injustice, according to him, and an expeditious procedure.
His story, as he tells it in World at a coffee table in Ankara, begins in a small town in northern Iran, Sowme’eh Sara. It was there that he grew up, with his father, a teacher, and his mother, a housewife. From the age of 17, he published chronicles on literature in various magazines and newspapers. With a marked preference for novelists with political connotations such as Mario Vargas Llosa, Gabriel Garcia Marquez or George Orwell.
“Can you hear us?” “
In 2017, he moved to Tehran, where he became a reporter for the reformist daily Shargh. Responsible for dealing with social or economic issues, he covers politico-financial affairs and is interested in workers’ demands.
Little by little, his vision of the country evolves. “By studying the living conditions of the workers and by carrying out the financial investigations, I realized how deep the corruption of the political class, as well on the side of the reformers as on the side of the conservatives, is. These two camps have common interests. It is a myth that the reformers care more about the people. What I wrote annoyed. ” At the time, these publications brought all kinds of pressure to its editor. For his part, Mohammad Mosaed feels frustrated by the fact that the official press – which includes Shargh – very often prohibited from relaying information on waves of protests, soaring prices or arrests of activists and students. “The slogan coming from the authorities is: “The situation is critical. Don’t provoke your readers” “, he specifies.
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