(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to the head of the magistracy, Ayatollah Shahroudi, RSF protested the banning of reformist publication “Nosazi”. Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general, asked Shahroudi “to cancel this decision.” RSF recalled that “since 1 January 2000, conservative-dominated Iranian courts have suspended 39 newspapers, 37 of which have reformist leanings.” Moreover, 21 journalists […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to the head of the magistracy, Ayatollah Shahroudi, RSF protested the banning of reformist publication “Nosazi”. Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general, asked Shahroudi “to cancel this decision.” RSF recalled that “since 1 January 2000, conservative-dominated Iranian courts have suspended 39 newspapers, 37 of which have reformist leanings.” Moreover, 21 journalists are currently detained in the country, making Iran the largest prison for journalists in the world. RSF also expressed concern about Hassan Youssefi Echkevari, jailed since 5 August (see IFEX alerts of 26, 19 and 12 April, 19 March, 24, 16 and 15 January 2001, 14 November, 17 and 11 October, 7 and 1 September and 8 August 2000)
According to information collected by RSF, on 9 May 2001 the Iranian court ordered the closure of the daily “Nosazi”, whose first issue was published four days before. The Tehran court explained that it closed the paper because its editor, Hamid-Reza Jalaï-Pour, was not “competent” to publish a newspaper. The court also accuses him, as owner of Jameh-é-Rooz, which has published several banned reformist newspapers (“Neshat”, “Asr-é-Azadegan” and “Akhbar el Eghtessad”), of publishing “criminal” material.
Echkevari, theologian and contributor to now banned newspapers like “Adineh”, “Neshat” and “Iran-é-farda”, has been in jail since 5 August. He was prosecuted, like many journalists and intellectuals, for his participation in a conference in Berlin in April 2000 on the subject “Iran after the elections”. Because of this he was accused of being a “threat to national security”. The verdict in his trial, held in camera between 7 and 15 October, was never made public. Accused of being a “mohareb” (fighter against God), Echkevari is liable to the death penalty.
