In a statement, Reporters Without Borders expressed concern over the "tense situation" in Iran that has led to a further crackdown on the media and called on the 15 members-strong European Union, which will shortly have talks with Tehran on signing a Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), to insist that freedom of expression is respected.

The Organisation's Secretary-General, Mr. Robert Ménard, called for the "immediate release" of imprisoned journalists Behrouz Gheranpayeh, Hoseyn Qazian and Abbas Abdi, as well as nine others who are in jail on charges of espionage and acting against the security of the state.

Geranpayeh, head of the National Institute of Public Opinion, who also worked on the now-closed newspaper "Nowrooz", was arrested on 16 October and sent to Evin prison, accused of "spying" and collaborating with the Baghdad-based, Iraqi supported and financed exiled armed People's Mojahideen Khalq Organisation.  His wife has since only been allowed to visit him once, in a judge's office, and a date for his trial has not been set.

Qazian, one of the directors of Ayandeh public opinion institute and also a journalist with "No Rooz", was arrested on 31 October and taken to the same prison.  Abdi, the Director of Ayandeh and former editor of the now-closed daily paper "Salam", was arrested at his home on 4 November.

Judge Sa’id Mortazavi, the Head of the press court, accused Mr. Abdi of receiving 45.000 US dollars from the US polling firm Gallup as well as a foreign embassy to conduct a poll that showed 74 per cent of Iranians supports normalising relations with the United States. 

The court will try Qazian and Abdi on 1 December.  Their lawyers said they had not been allowed to see the case files.

On 24 November, more than 100 journalists sent a petition to the conservative-dominated Judiciary calling for the release of the three men, whom they called as "political prisoners".

Students began demonstrating on 9 November against a death sentence imposed on Mr. Hashem Aqajari, a university professor and Islamist reformer who was accused on blasphemy.

The protest movement became increasingly political, with students leaders calling for more freedom and the release of "political prisoners".

Judge Mortazavi has twice in recent weeks summoned newspaper editors and ordered them not to print any more about the public opinion poll case or the student demonstrations.

In another development, a court in the industrial city of Qavzin, north of Teheran, suspended the weekly "Nameh Ghavzin" for three months on 21 November for "inciting young people to immorality and indecency" and fined it three million Rials (about 1.940 euros) for "undermining revolutionary sentiment".

RSF also noted that Islamist extremists beat three journalists on 22 November as they were covering a gathering of thousands of people marking the fourth anniversary of the murder of four opposition intellectuals and politicians, including Mr. Dariush Foroohar, the leader of the Iranian People’s Party, and his wife Prvaneh, in late 1998.