فارسیفارسی
ARREST AND IGNORANCE
Australian and British bloggers arrested in Iran named as Jolie King and Mark Firkin
حقوق بشر در ایران Monday, 16 September, 2019073
Link Code:
https://humanrightsinir.org/?p=60994News Code: 60994
The Australian couple being held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison have been named as Jolie King and Mark Firkin, who were reportedly arrested 10 weeks ago near the Iranian capital.
Firkin and King, who also holds a British passport, have been blogging a globe-trotting adventure since 2017 as they endeavoured to drive from Australia to London. Despite diplomatic efforts to keep their cases from public attention, the pair was named overnight on social media.
-Wanted to break the stigma-
“Our biggest motivation behind making the vlogs is to hopefully inspire anyone wanting to travel, and also try to break the stigma around
travelling to countries which get a bad rap in the media,” the couple said in a post on crowd-funding platform Patreon.
The Australian government has been negotiating for the release of the Australians since their arrests, news of which became public on Wednesday. The Guardian understands both Firkin and Jolie were travelling on Australian passports.
The families of Firkin and King released a statement saying: “Our families hope to see Mark and Jolie safely home as soon as possible.” They said they would not be commenting further and asked for privacy.
The editor of the Persian-language broadcaster Manoto TV, said on Twitter a source had told him the couple had been arrested “for flying a drone near the capital, Tehran”.
Earlier reports suggested the couple had been camping in a military area around Jajrood in Tehran province.
The couple were blogging their travels on YouTube and Instagram. Dozens of videos and photographs posted online appear to have been shot using a drone.
“The family says this was a misunderstanding and Jolie King and her fiance Mark Firkin were unaware of the Iranian law which bans drone flights without a licence,” Zeraati said online.
“Their trial has not been held yet and it is not clear what the Islamic Republic [of Iran] wants out of this arrest, as no one from the judiciary or intelligence services has made any comment on this.”
King, a building designer, and Firkin, a construction manager, have been documenting their travels on a blog called The Way Overland.
On a plan listed on their blog, the couple said their plan was to drive from their home in the Perth suburb of Cottlesloe to London in a Toyota Landcruiser they converted into a mobile home.
The couple posted a video roughly once a week to YouTube and social media, and people following their journey raised concerns when there was silence from the pair.
Their last post on social media was from the Naryn region of Kyrgyzstan on 26 June. Their last video was from Pakistan, posted on 25 June, showing the pair driving the Karakoram Highway.
Their final activity on social media appears to have been on Sunday 30 June. Followers and friends began posting increasingly alarmed comments after their accounts fell silent, asking if they were safe.
The Australian government’s travel advice for Iran warns: “There is a risk that foreigners, including Australians, could be arbitrarily detained or arrested in Iran. We can’t guarantee consular access if you are detained or arrested. We also can’t guarantee access to legal representation.”
The advice also urges travellers not to visit military or nuclear sites, which, it says, “are not always clearly marked”.
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