(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to the head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi, RSF expressed its indignation over the closure of the reformist daily “Bayan”. RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard asked Ayatollah Shahroudi to use his influence to ensure that the newspaper could resume publication. Nineteen newspapers have been suspended in Iran since 1 January 2000, […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to the head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi, RSF expressed its indignation over the closure of the reformist daily “Bayan”. RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard asked Ayatollah Shahroudi to use his influence to ensure that the newspaper could resume publication. Nineteen newspapers have been suspended in Iran since 1 January 2000, and sources close to reformist circles say that others may be closed over the next few weeks.
According to information collected by RSF, on 25 June, an Iranian religious court ordered the closure of the daily “Bayan” for an indefinite period because it had “broken the laws of Islam” and “published false information”. The newspaper, whose editor is Hojatoleslam Ali-Akbar Mohtashemi, an adviser to President Khatami and a former interior minister, was launched in early December 1999 by staff of the reformist daily “Salam”, which was also closed down by the authorities in July 1999 (see IFEX alerts of 29, 27, 15 and 8 July 1999). Mohtashemi was summoned to appear before a religious court in April 2000 after a complaint was filed by the imam in charge of Friday prayers in Hamedan, western Iran.
The sanction against “Bayan” comes a few days after a petition was put forward by reformist members of the parliament elected in February, calling for the constitutionality of the press law recently adopted by the conservatives to be examined.
