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Despite President Khatami's public support for a liberalized pressin Iran, the authorities in recent weeks have cracked down onpublications critical of the regime, and have even brought thedaughter of former President Rafsanjani before a press court.
The crackdown began with the closure of the daily Tous, a revivedversion of the pro-Khatami Jameh, following a speech by AyatollahKhamene'i on Sept. 15 to Pasdaran commanders, in which he accusedliberal publications of sponsoring "a creeping Western culturalonslaught," and accused them of "targeting the people's faith inIslam and revolution."
A few days later, the law enforcement force closed down theweeklies Rah-e Now (New Path) and Tavana, and the monthly Iran-eFarda (Iran Tomorrow), which had been publishing a lengthy series onU.S.-Iran relations remarkable for the absence of rhetoric andanti-U.S. propaganda.
Press closures have been ordered frequently, especially in recentyears. But these closures were accompanied by the arrest of prominentpublishers, editorials, and reporters, including four members of theTous board.
In a move which took many commentators off guard, the Judiciaryalso arrested two top editors at the state-run Islamic Republic NewsAgency (IRNA) on Sept. 22, releasing them on bail the next day. Theywere accused of having approved a report appearing in IRNA'sconfidential daily bulletin prepared for government officialsrevealing that the assassination attempt against Mohsen Rafiq-doustwas carried out by a disgruntled employee of the Bonyad-e Mostazafan,and not by the opposition Mujahedin-e Khalq. Rafiq-doust has headedthe Bonyad since 1989, when he was removed as commander of theRevolutionary Guards, and has transformed the foundation into Iran'spremier industrial conglomerate - and, his critics allege, into aslush fund for himself and top regime officials, starting withSupreme Leader Ayatollah Khamene'i. A Parliamentary investigationsuppressed last year revealed that the Bonyad was a cash cow used tofund Iran's WMD programs, the regime's overseas terrorist operations,as well as dubious overseas enterprises apparently operating onbehalf of regime officials.
One of the closed weeklies, Rah-e Now, recently published anarticle written by Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri advocatingthat the Supreme Leader only supervise state affairs and not holddecision-making authority, according to the International IranTimes.
Faezeh Hashemi, daughter of former President Rafsanjani, washauled before a press court on Sept. 28 on libel charges. GeneralMohammad Naqdi, commander of the police intelligence branch, wassuing her for an article in her weekly Zan implicating him in attackslast month on Culture Minister Mohajerani and Deputy PresidentAbdallah Nuri, believed to have been carried out by Ansar-e Hezbollahthugs. Zan alleged that Naqdi was sighted at the scene of theattacks, according to an account in the International Iran Times.
After he was attacked, Culture and Islamic Guidance MinisterMohajerani dropped his previous support of the controversialpublications. "Eventually I myself concluded that Tous was part ofsome political movement" aimed at undermining the regime," he said."My impression was that the management wanted to revive certainpersonalities," specifically, former President Abdolhassan Bani Sadr.The paper first got into trouble over the summer for having printed apage one photo of a Tehran alley, in which a faint picture of theformer President appeared on a wall between two older people.