(RSF/IFEX) – On 27 May 2002, RSF protested the Iranian judiciary’s ban on publishing articles in the country’s press about relations between Iran and the United States (US) and called for the ban to be lifted at once. “This censorship violates the freedom of expression of journalists and the right of Iranians to be informed, […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 27 May 2002, RSF protested the Iranian judiciary’s ban on publishing articles in the country’s press about relations between Iran and the United States (US) and called for the ban to be lifted at once.
“This censorship violates the freedom of expression of journalists and the right of Iranians to be informed, and also shows that foreign policy remains the exclusive domain of the Supreme Guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who controls the judiciary,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard in a letter to the head of the Iranian judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi Sharudi. “This legally baseless, deplorable ban comes as several publications and journalists are fighting legal battles,” noted Ménard.
The ban was announced on 25 May after the reformist daily “Nowrooz” said informal contacts may have been made between top-level Iranian and US officials in Nicosia or Ankara in recent months. The question of relations with the US has split the Iranian regime, against a backdrop of the US fight against terrorism in the region, but the authorities decreed that simply mentioning the subject would be an “offence” that is “against national interests.”
Some reformist figures have deplored the ban. “Nowrooz” editor Mohsen Mirdamadi, who has already been prosecuted for articles he has written, protested the restriction on political debate. Mirdamadi, who is also a reformist member of parliament and is close to reformist President Mohammed Khatami, said any talks between Iran and the US should be held “in the open” and not secretly.
RSF notes that 11 journalists are currently imprisoned in Iran. The country’s judiciary, which is controlled by conservatives, has suspended 28 daily newspapers in the past two years.
