Writer, journalist and human rights activist Yousef Azizi was sentenced on 2 July 2008 to five years in prison for ‘acting against national security’, ‘propaganda against the regime’, ‘incitement to rebellion’ and ‘relations with foreign officials’, after a two-year trial. He is believed to be charged for his reporting on the allegedly excessive use of force by security forces against demonstrators from the Arab community in the southwestern region of Khuzestan (known locally as Al-Ahwaz).