(Freedom House/IFEX) – The special clerical court in Iran has placed a five-year ban on “Salam” newspaper and sentenced the paper’s editor and publisher, Mohammad Mosavi-Khoeniha, to a three-year suspension from journalism. **Updates IFEX alerts of 3 August, 29 July, 27 July, 26 July, 15 July and 8 July 1999** “Salam”, a relatively moderate paper […]
(Freedom House/IFEX) – The special clerical court in Iran has placed a
five-year ban on “Salam” newspaper and sentenced the paper’s editor and
publisher, Mohammad Mosavi-Khoeniha, to a three-year suspension from
journalism.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 3 August, 29 July, 27 July, 26 July, 15 July and 8
July 1999**
“Salam”, a relatively moderate paper that supports Iranian President
Mohammad Khatami, was suspended in July after reporting on the government
investigation into the 1998 murders of several writers and intellectuals.
The following is Freedom House’s letter of protest:
4 August 1999
His Excellency Hojatoleslam val-moslemin Sayed Mohammad Khatami
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Tehran
FAX: 98 21 64 66 415
Your Excellency,
Freedom House wishes to protest the sentencing of the moderate Salam
newspaper by Iran’s special clerical court. Salam, which was suspended in
July for reporting on the government investigation into the 1998 murders of
several writers and intellectuals, was banned for five years by the court.
In addition, Mohammad Mosavi-Khoeniha, the paper’s editor-in-chief, was
suspended from journalism for three years.
These moves against the independent media in Iran are only the latest in a
campaign of repression against moderate newspapers and journalists that
began with the suspension of Salam on July 7. Amid widespread student
protests ignited by that suspension as well as by the first passage of a
newly restrictive press law, journalists from leading moderate newspapers,
including Hoviyat-e-Khich and Emrooz, have been arrested and several papers
shut down. Mr. Mosavi-Khoeniha was convicted on July 25 of slander and
publishing an allegedly classified document. The whereabouts of some detaine
d journalists have not been made public.
Furthermore, on August 3 the Iranian judiciary proposed a bill that would
allow the prosecution of anyone who speaks to the media “in any form
detrimental to the freedom, independence, and national unity and interests”
of Iran. Freedom House is concerned that if passed, the broad scope of the
bill will be used to restrict further the right to freedom of expression
guaranteed under Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory.
Your excellency, you were recently quoted as saying that “a lively and
dynamic human society is one which thinks, one which is free, one which is
based on the rule of law, and one which criticizes.” Since your election in
1996, independent newspapers have been an increasingly vital forum for
political debate in Iran. The recent crackdown on independent media runs
counter to the aspirations that you have expressed.
We hope that your excellency will take whatever steps possible to ensure
that Salam may resume publication, to end the criminal prosecution and
harassment of journalists and newspapers, and to protect the internationally
recognized right of Iranian journalists to publish freely.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. We look forward to your
response.
Respectfully,
Adrian Karatnycky
President
Freedom House
Similar appeals can be sent to:
Appeals To
His Excellency Hojatoleslam val-moslemin Sayed Mohammad Khatami
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
The Presidency, Palestine Avenue
Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: +98 21 64 66 415
E-mail page: http://year2001.president.gov.ir/email007.html
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
