Journalist kidnapped in Caspian city of Saari

Iran Press News: Translation by Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi

According to reports from the regime-run news agency ISNA: "A group of armed individuals who claimed to be intelligence agents of the city of Saari (Province of Mazandaraan) kidnapped the editor of Daryaasar newspaper and after brutally beating him, cut his ear off."

The editor, who was later found, explained that his assailants wore helmets and were armed with Kalashnikov rifles; they forced their way into his car, drove him to the woods just outside Saari. There, the editor was brutally beaten and after robbing him and cutting his ear off, they took off in his automobile.