Back to Brief on Iran
TEHRAN - Iran's special press court on Sunday closed at least three newspapers without warning, in the biggest blow yet to pro-Khatami press.
Executives at the mass-circulation dailies Asr-e Azadegan and Fath told Reuters they had received letters from the court ordering them to cease publication at once. They said the bi-weekly Iran-e Farda was also banned. There were reports that a third daily, Arya, had been suspended as well.
One analyst said the crackdown on the press was likely to be accompanied by other tough measures, including tightened security on the streets and stricter enforcement of Iran's social code and segregation of the sexes. Checkpoints were active along some major intersections on Sunday evening.
The publisher of a banned newspaper was jailed on Sunday when Iran's Supreme Court rejected his final appeal. Latif Safari had been sentenced to 30 months imprisonment by the press court for offences including insulting religious sanctities.
Safari's imprisonment came one day after the detention of another top pro-reformist journalist, Akbar Ganji.
A number of politicians and journalists,
meanwhile, have been summoned to the Revolutionary Court for interrogation
after a seminar they attended in Berlin was accused of insulting revolutionary
and Islamic values.
New Height In The Raging Power Struggle, Iran Zamin News Agency, April 22
On Saturday, Khatami was forced to break his silence, after the assassination attempt against his close confidant, Saeed Hajjarian, and the arrest of Akbar Ganji, and after the Khamenei faction's gambit, Khatami attacked some of the commanders of the Revolutionary Guards and Intelligence Ministry officials belonging to the rival faction.
Speaking at an opening ceremony, he
said: "A (government) body with a known political tendency, whose job is
to ensure the security of the country, openly advocated the idea that with
Khatami coming to power, both Islam and security would be destroyed. They
advocated this view with great fervor. Is it not the case that many of
the crises being generated today are in fact the continuation of that same
policy? Do they not want to pretend in this way that Islam and religion
have been lost?"
Mullahs' "Totally Fictitious" Report And "Hollow Show of Force", Reuters, April 23
TEHRAN - The Iranian army killed four members of the Mojahedin organization as they attempted to cross the border on Sunday, state radio said in a report which was denied by the rebels.
In a statement sent to Reuters in Dubai, the Mojahedin said the radio report was "totally fictitious."
[The Mojahedin Command inside Iran
added: "The mullahs' regime is in dire need of such false propaganda and
hollow show of force, especially on the eve of the parade by the mullahs'
armed forces due to be held tomorrow."]
Khatami's Foreign Ministry Raps U.S. "Interference", Reuters, April 22
TEHRAN - Iran has criticized the United States for expressing concern over press restrictions in Iran.
"The recent remarks by the spokesman of the U.S. foreign ministry (James Rubin) is a blatant example of interference in our internal affairs," State television on Saturday quoted foreign ministry spokesman as saying.
Rubin voiced concern on Thursday over threats to press freedom in Iran. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright offered regret last month for past U.S. policy on Iran. She also waived imported bans on luxury goods.
Iranian officials have promised a comprehensive
response but so far the U.S. initiative has done little more than exacerbate
tensions between the conservative establishment and reformers grouped around
Khatami.
Mullahs' Regime Arrests 200 In Anti-Government Riots, Associated Press, April 21
TEHRAN - At least 200 people were arrested Friday in a southern Iranian town where people rioted for a third day against the annulment of an election result, a local journalist said.
"The protesters hurled stones at anti-riot police and set one of the police cars on fire," said the journalist in the town of Sarvestan, Fars Province.
Hundreds of anti-riot police were patrolling the streets of Sarvestan and gatherings of more than three people have been banned, said the journalist, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The journalist called The Associated Press on a cellular phone late Friday to say the authorities had cut telephone lines to Sarvestan and that protests were still going on close to midnight.