(IPI/IFEX) – IPI is strongly condemning the recent arrest of the editor of the moderate national daily “Emrooz”, and the Sunday 25 July 1999 guilty verdict against the publisher and editor-in-chief of the leading pro-reform newspaper “Salam”. **Updates IFEX alerts of 26 July, 15 July and 8 July 1999** Kazem Shokri, editor of “Emrooz”, was […]
(IPI/IFEX) – IPI is strongly condemning the recent arrest of the editor of
the moderate national daily “Emrooz”, and the Sunday 25 July 1999 guilty
verdict against the publisher and editor-in-chief of the leading pro-reform
newspaper “Salam”.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 26 July, 15 July and 8 July 1999**
Kazem Shokri, editor of “Emrooz”, was arrested on Tuesday 20 July and
charged with having authorised an article, “Two parallel lines do not cross
unless God wills it,” alleged to be insulting to Islam. The newspaper’s
publisher, Saeed Hajarian, was held earlier, but was released on bail after
he said that Shokri was responsible for publishing the article.
Mohammad Mousavi-Khoeiniha, of the influential “Salam”, was convicted for
publishing an allegedly classified document, slandering provincial officials
and linking members of parliament to a rogue secret agent accused of
masterminding the murder of several dissidents last year. The eight-member
jury – all conservative clergy chosen by the judge – included three
prominent hard-liners. A final judgement, which could include the permanent
closure of “Salam” and Mousavi-Khoeiniha’s imprisonment, was due later.
Iran’s hard-liners in the judiciary, the parliament and the main clerical
bodies – supporters of the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – have
recently stepped up their campaign against the liberal media, which has
flourished under President Mohammed Khatami’s reformist government. A number
of moderate publications have been suspended or permanently closed by
conservative-run courts, while some of their editors remain in jail awaiting
trial.
Earlier this month, the conservative-led parliament approved the outlines of
a tough new press law which would compel journalists to reveal their sources
and reinforce such hard-line institutions as the Revolutionary Court, while
on 7 July a clerical court closed the daily “Salam” until further notice,
triggering six days of unrest by Iran’s pro-democracy student movement.
The detention of journalists for their reporting on sensitive topics and the
suspension of numerous newspapers and magazines over recent months
constitutes a blatant violation of the right to free information under
Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to
which Iran is a signatory.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
unconditional release of Kazem Shokri and Mohammad Mousavi-Khoeiniha, as
well as two other journalists recently taken into custody – Heshmatollah
Tabarzadi, editor-in-chief of “Hoviat e Khish”, and Morad Veissi of
“Salam” – and to end the constant judicial harassment of liberal newspapers
in Iran
Appeals To
His Excellency Mohammad Khatami
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
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.
