Araz News: Imprisoned South Azerbaijani Journalist One of 100 Information Heroes of the World

Prominent organization Reporters Without Borders has published a list of “100 Information Heroes” for World Press Freedom Day (3 May).

Reporters Without Borders informs in its website:

“Through their courageous work or activism, these “100 heroes” help to promote the freedom enshrined in article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the freedom to “to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

They put their ideals in the service of the common good. They serve as examples.

“World Press Freedom Day, which Reporters Without Borders helped to create, should be an occasion for paying tribute to the courage of the journalists and bloggers who constantly sacrifice their safety and sometimes their lives to their vocation,” said Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Christophe Deloire.

Imprisoned South Azerbaijani Journalist is one of 100 Information Heroes of the World announced by  Reporters Without Borders.

In the organizations site a profile of Said Matinpour is given, as:

“Said Matinpour, a journalist with the weekly Azeri-language newspaper Yarpagh, is among the media workers who have spent the longest time in the jails of Iran. A Tehran revolutionary court sentenced him to eight years’ imprisonment in 2009 for anti-government propaganda and “maintaining relations with foreigners”. Two years earlier, he was detained in the notorious Evin prison and was released nine months later after the payment of an exorbitant fine of 500,000 euros. Matinpour has suffered health problems as a result of the first term he served in Evin. Deprived of his freedom and denied medical treatment, he wages a daily battle for his rights and those of the other prisoners and has become a leading figure in the fight against the deplorable conditions in which prisoners of conscience are held.”