Wednesday, July 8, 1999
The BBC reported last night from Tehran that hard-liners in Tehranhave closed Salam newspaper, a leading supporter of the reformmovement. Earlier in the day, the Majlis passed on first reading asweeping new law which would legalize the crackdown on the reformistpress that has been underway for the past few months.
A court ordered Salam, one of the main newspapers backingPresident Mohammad Khatami, to cease publication after a complaintfrom the Intelligence Ministry over the printing of a secret ministryreport about an alleged hardline plot to muzzle the country'spro-reform press, the BBC reported.
The BBC report continued:
The ministry accused Salam of "confusing public opinion" bypublishing selected parts of the memo, along with allegedlymisleading headlines, a court statement said. It added that thepublication ban will remain in force until a final ruling is issuedby the court. A Salam journalist earlier told reporters that policehad arrested the newspaper's night editor, Morad Raisi.
The new law, set to be adopted after a detailed examination byparliament in the next few days, would give Iran's hardline Islamicrevolutionary courts jurisdiction over "national security-related"press offences, rather than referring such cases to press courts asin the past. "The press is a gateway for cultural invasion, so let ustake measures," conservative parliamentary speaker Ali AkbarNateq-Nuri said during debate on the bill, which was passed by 125votes to 90 with 55 deputies absent.
"Some people, under the pretext of press freedom, are plottingagainst the system," he said. Mr Nateq-Nuri said the aim of the lawwas to prevent the abuse of freedom in the press. The measure wasdenounced by top moderates including liberal Culture MinisterAyatollah Mohajerani, a staunch ally of President Mohammad Khatami,who has put increased press freedom at the heart of his reformagenda.
"Freedom can not be repressed by any law," Mohajerani told theparliament. "We have to create laws in accordance with freedom, notfreedom according to our laws." President Khatami and his entirecabinet stated their opposition to the law last week.Editors from adozen newspapers said in a joint statement Tuesday that the billwould pave the way for "restrictions on the press, practically no jobsecurity for the country's journalists and preliminary steps forclosure of various press institutions."
Although Iran's moderate press has enjoyed considerable freedomsince President Khatami's election in 1997, it has come undermounting pressure from hardliners within the regime in recent months.Two journalists were arrested last month, on charges of spreadinganti-Islamic propaganda. Their newspaper, Hoveyat-e-Khish, was bannedbecause of its attacks on clerical hardliners.
In February a revolutionary court closed down the Zan newspaperafter it published a new year's message from Farah Diba, the formerempress and wife of the deposed Shah. The press crackdown comes aheadof next spring's key parliamentary elections, seen as crucial for thecountry's conservatives after they were solidly defeated thisFebruary in Iran's first municipal elections since the 1979 Islamicrevolution.