TEHRAN, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Several Iranian journalists have been accused of collaborating with opponents of the regime and working with foreign news operations, Mehr News Agency said.
Officials raided the offices of newspapers Etemaad, Bahar, Arman and Shargh Sunday searching for journalists who had allegedly been working for Farsi-language counterrevolutionary news organizations. In Iran, the term counterrevolutionary implies overseas involvement, CNN reported.
Among those arrested was Javad Daliri, the editor in chief of Etemaad, described as a reformist daily newspaper, pro-government newspaper Mashregh News reported. Daliri previously served prison sentences for working with opponents of the regime. Two other employees at Etemaad, Sasan Aghaie and Nasrin Takhiri, were also arrested Sunday.
Soleyman Mohammadi, an editor at the daily Bahar, and Milad Fadaie, political editor at the Iran Labor News Agency, were also arrested, Mashregh News reported.
The total number of journalists arrested Sunday was not reported.
The Committee to Protect Journalists in New York City released a report last month showing Iran had the second-highest number of journalists in jail, 45, behind Turkey, which had 49.
