Jailed Newsweek Journo Confessed to Conspiracy: Iran

State-run TV shows reporter confessing to filing biased reports to create unrest
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 2, 2009 5:59 AM CDT
Jailed Newsweek Journo Confessed to Conspiracy: Iran
Journalist Maziar Bahari is shown in this undated photo. Bahari, a Canadian citizen, had been detained without charge in Iran since last month.   (AP Photo/Newsweek)

A Newsweek reporter who was arrested in Iran last month has confessed to filing "biased" news reports to stir unrest as part of a conspiracy to undermine the country's government, according to Iranian state-run media. Maziar Bahari made the alleged confession at a press conference Tuesday, Bloomberg reports. "As a reporter and a part of the West’s capitalistic engine, I was put on the path of creating rumors towards a colored revolution," Bahari is alleged to have said in his confession.

Newsweek called the report "preposterous," saying that Bahari has never shown a hint of bias in his many years of reporting. Reporters Without Borders says other journalists have been paraded on state-run TV confessing to doing the bidding of Western governments, all using identical words. The Canadian-Iranian citizen was arrested June 21 and has not been allowed to see a lawyer. (More Iran stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X