Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari remains in prison in Iran, where he was arrested on June 21. A correspondent for Newsweek, Bahari has been accused of helping organize anti-government protests.

The CBC Radio program The Current aired a segment on Bahari on July 7, featuring interviews with Newsweek’s foreign editor, Nisid Hajari, and Dennis Trudeau, vice-president of Reporters Without Borders Canada.

Although the Iranian Fars News agency has reported that Bahari confessed to inaccurate reporting, Hajari said in the CBC interview that his reporting has always been objective, noting that Bahari has sometimes been criticized by people outside Iraq who felt he was not critical enough of the Iranian regime.

Although a number of journalists were detained during the protests that followed Iran’s recent presidential election – the results of which the opposition disputed – Bahari is the only foreign journalist still in custody. Trudeau suggested this may be because he holds Iranian as well as Canadian citizenship and Iran does not recognize dual citizenship.

In an editorial on July 8, The Globe and Mail condemned Bahari’s imprisonment and called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to appeal directly to the Iranian government for his release.

There are further details and links on Bahari’s imprisonment in this previous posting on J-Source.