(RSF/IFEX) – An Iranian court suspended the reformist daily newspaper “Azad” on 11 July 2002, after it defied a ban on publishing any information about the resignation of a controversial Ispahan imam, Ayatollah Jalaleddin Taheri. “We urge the authorities to reverse this arbitrary and illegal suspension,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. “Censoring comment on this […]
(RSF/IFEX) – An Iranian court suspended the reformist daily newspaper “Azad” on 11 July 2002, after it defied a ban on publishing any information about the resignation of a controversial Ispahan imam, Ayatollah Jalaleddin Taheri.
“We urge the authorities to reverse this arbitrary and illegal suspension,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. “Censoring comment on this subject is a serious matter. It especially undermines the exchange of ideas in Iran, where for the past few years newspapers have played a major role.”
In May, RSF protested a ban on articles discussing relations between Iran and the United States (see IFEX alert of 28 May 2002). So far this year, seven publications have been suspended in Iran. The country’s supreme spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, officially called the “Guide of the Islamic Revolution”, is included on RSF’s list of international press freedom predators. Ten journalists are currently imprisoned in Iran.
Tehran’s Court 1410, known as the “press court”, ordered the suspension of “Azad” for publishing an article about the resignation of Ayatollah Taheri. The move came a day after the country’s Supreme National Security Council barred the media from publishing any information on the matter, be it favourable or hostile to the ayatollah, and hours after the publication in the reformist press of an open letter from Taheri that caused an uproar among conservatives.
In the letter he announced his resignation, in protest of what he termed the “chaotic situation” in Iran, marked by “disappointment, unemployment, inflation, daily price rises, the gap between rich and poor, a sick economy, corrupt bureaucracy, bribery, embezzlement, growing drug use, official incompetence and weak political structures.” He also accused those in power of using hardline thugs to enforce their rule and said, “society’s dregs and fascists” were acting as “philosophers, sheriffs and judges.”
Deputy Culture Minister Shahan Shahidi-Moadab, who confirmed “Azad”‘s suspension, called on other publications to obey the censorship order. However, several conservative newspapers that criticised Taheri’s resignation were not suspended. The 12 July issue of the major reformist daily “Nowruz”, which had intended to print a commentary on the imam’s letter, published censored articles instead.
Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, spokesman for Iran’s press freedom association, denounced the announcement by the Supreme National Security Council’s secretariat and described it as “illegal.” The Council, set up in 1989, is officially headed by President Mohamed Khatami, but its secretariat is controlled by conservative cleric Hassan Ruhani.
