(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 7 August 2000 letter to His Excellency Sayed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, CPJ protested the supreme leader’s arbitrary and ill-advised decision to quash a proposed parliamentary bill to amend Iran’s harsh press laws. According to international press reports, the Majles (parliament) was scheduled to debate the bill at its opening session on […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 7 August 2000 letter to His Excellency Sayed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, CPJ protested the supreme leader’s arbitrary and ill-advised decision to quash a proposed parliamentary bill to amend Iran’s harsh press laws.
According to international press reports, the Majles (parliament) was scheduled to debate the bill at its opening session on 6 August in Tehran. The bill would revise the current code, which was passed in March by the outgoing Majles, in order to:
– Remove the judiciary’s current power to close newspapers without a hearing and court order.
– Bar courts from demanding lists of newspaper staff members to prevent banned publications from reopening under a new name. This has been standard practice in Iranian journalism since last summer, when conservative elements launched a crackdown against the reformist press that has so far resulted in the suspension of twenty-two newspapers and magazines, according to CPJ research (see IFEX alerts of 26 and 24 July, 27 June, 23, 9 and 8 May, 28, 25, 24 and 20 April 2000 and others).
– Remove hard-liners from the press court jury and oblige the judge of the press court to respect its rulings.
Unfortunately, Khamenei chose to short-circuit this vital debate by sending the Majles a letter in which he ruled that any modification or amendment of the press code was “not in the interest of the regime.” He further stated that his aim was to keep the press from falling into the hands of “the enemies of Islam, the revolution, and the regime.”
One day after this legislative debacle, another pro-reform journalist was arrested in Tehran. According to wire-service reports, Ahmad Zeid-Abadi, a reporter for the reformist daily “Hamshahri”, the organ of the Tehran municipality, was arrested on the orders of press-court judge Said Mortazavi. His detention is believed to result from articles that he published last year in a number of reformist newspapers.
Also on Monday 7 August, the pro-reform weekly “Cheshmeh Ardebil” in northwestern Iran was suspended for four months on charges of “disturbing public opinion” and “insulting Islamic sanctities,” according to The Associated Press. The paper’s director, Naser Jafari, was fined one million rials (US$125). “Cheshmeh Ardebil” is the twenty-second publication that conservative authorities have banned since March; all but one backed President Mohammed Khatami’s liberal agenda, according to CPJ’s research.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the supreme leader:
– stating that while it may be in the narrow, short-term interests of conservative elements within His Excellency’s regime to stifle independent discussion of the many challenges currently facing the Islamic Republic of Iran, such gross censorship is most certainly not in the interests of the Iranian people
– suggesting that, rather than invoking “enemies” in order to silence criticism, His Excellency should allow the open, uncensored media debate that is essential for democratic discourse
– urging him to order the immediate release of Zeid-Abadi and all other Iranian journalists who are currently jailed for their work, to restore “Cheshmeh Ardebil”‘s publishing license, and to withdraw his ban on parliamentary discussion of the proposed press-law reform bill
Appeals To
APPEALS TO:
His Excellency Sayed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
c/o Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
622 3rd Ave, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10017
Fax: +212 867 7086
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
