Iran Arrests Foreign Reporters

One Japanese and two Canadian reporters covering anti-government protests have been arrested in Iran on charges of “unauthorized reporting,” along with the detention of a number of other journalists. The protests came on the 30th anniversary of the U.S. embassy takeover, an occasion for which Iranian authorities also temporarily blocked use of Gmail and Yahoo to prevent news and images of the protests from spreading. Iran has made a habit of blaming foreign media for inciting riots, and journalists were for the most part banned after riots during elections last June—journalists this week were told to limit their reporting to the official demonstration. According to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, claims of the arrests are “under investigation.”