Justice for Iran

…but right now, everything out of Iran is devastating.

There are reports of brutal rapes and beatings:

Afshin, a shopkeeper from south-west Iran, alleges that one of his friends was beaten and repeatedly raped after being arrested at an opposition rally after last month’s disputed election. He gave this account to Esfandiar Poorgiv, a journalist and academic. (via Guardian)

One of my favorite Iranian journalists/filmmakers, Maziar Bahari, who has been detained in Iran since June 21 without charges or access to a lawyer, has confessed to participating in a Western media sabotage effort, as reported by an Iranian state news agency. That only translates to Bahari being subjected to extreme torture, and they will most likely make an example of him by execution.

He was recently seen on Fareed Zakaria GPS, and talked to Daily Show’s Jason Jones.

NEWSWEEK strongly disputes that charge, and defends Bahari’s work: “Maziar Bahari is a veteran journalist whose long career, both in print and in documentary filmmaking, has been accurate, even-handed, and widely respected.”

NEWSWEEK again calls for his immediate release.