"Russian journalist Yulia Yuzik was arrested on 3 October in her hotel room in the Iranian capital Teheran [Tehran]. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ/EFJ) joined their Russian affiliates in urging Iran to clarify the reasons for her arrest. In the absence of evidence, the EFJ calls for the journalist’s immediate release", the EFJ said in a statement later backed by the IFJ.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said earlier in the day that the Russian journalist was detained to provide some explanations and that she would soon be released.
Prior to that, the Russian Embassy in Iran reported that Yuzik had arrived in Tehran on 29 September on a private invitation, and her passport had been seized at the airport for unknown reasons. It added that she had been arrested later at the hotel. Her relatives say she is being accused of cooperating with Israeli intelligence. The journalist has not informed the Russian Embassy in Tehran about problems she could face and about her passport being seized, a press secretary of the Russian Embassy in Tehran said.
