• Dozens of journalists are detained in massive post-election
crackdown. • Numerous critical newspapers, Web sites censored or
shut down. 23: Journalists imprisoned as of December 1, 2009.
Amid the greatest national political upheaval since the 1979
Islamic Revolution, Iran launched a full-scale assault on the
media and the opposition. In mid-June, mass protests erupted in
response to official election results showing incumbent
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad winning by a large margin against
his main opposition challenger, reformist Mir-Hossein Mousavi.
The government responded with a wide-ranging and cruel campaign
to suppress dissent. As protests against perceived electoral
fraud spiraled into mass demonstrations, Iranian authorities
threw dozens of journalists behind bars (where many were
reportedly tortured), shuttered and censored news outlets, and
barred foreign journalists from reporting. During the protests
and crackdown, blogs and social media sites became front-line
news sources. The crackdown increa