An Iranian-Canadian journalist who was detained in Tehran during post-election protests has been charged with belonging to a Western-orchestrated conspiracy to overthrow the clerical regime, according to Iranian media.
Maziar Bahari has a home in Toronto but has lived in Iran for more than a decade, and worked for Newsweek magazine.
He is one of more than two dozen journalists and bloggers seized in a sweep of suspected opponents of the government, which has been battling protests since it endorsed elections last month widely criticized as fraudulent.
“The spokesperson for the Iranian foreign affairs ministry said that Bahari was part of a network of U.S. and British-led unrest,” said Morteza Abdolalian, an Iranian-born journalist and blogger who monitors the Iranian media. “They charged him with working for this network, following his arrest.”
There have been unconfirmed reports that Bahari “confessed” during his detention.
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