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OSLO - Norwegian police arrested two Iranian dissidents on Thursday for throwing red paint towards Deputy Iranian Foreign Minister Morteza Sarmadi during a visit to Oslo.
In two attacks, bags of paint splattered onto Iranian embassy cars used to drive Sarmadi and other Iranian officials during a visit to the Foreign Ministry in Oslo.
"We had to do something against this regime which is killing us," protester Nahid Khademi told Reuters. She said she was aged 34, had fled Iran 13 years ago and accused Iranian leaders of jailing and torturing her relatives.
[According to a report by Iran Zamin
News Agency, at 10:45 a.m. today, a group of Iranians residing in Norway,
shouting "Terrorist Sarmadi out of Oslo," "Down with Khatami" and "Down
with the terrorist," threw rotten eggs and paint-filled eggs at the car
carrying Morteza Sarmadi, the mullahs' Deputy Foreign Minister, as he was
entering the Foreign Ministry building in Oslo.]
New Ban on Papers Fuels Iran Crisis, Agence France Presse, April 27
TEHRAN - Iran's conservative judiciary stoked up tension again Thursday by ordering the closure of the two most important newspapers, including that of Mohammad Khatami's brother.
The move, reported by the official news agency IRNA, on top of previous suspensions left the pro-Khatami camp without a voice for the second round of the parliamentary elections on May 5.
The ban on Mosharekat and Sobh-e-Emruz brought to 16 the total number of dailies and periodicals closed down since Sunday.
Mosharekat is the organ of the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF) of Mohammad-Reza Khatami, who had already been warned Wednesday by the press court. Sobh-e-Emruz is headed by Said Hajarian, who was wounded in an assassination attempt on March 12.
The closures followed a new attack on the press late Wednesday by Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Analysts said earlier this week that the suspension of Mosharekat could take the conservatives over a "red line" in their conflict with reformists.
A fourth weekly, Ava, also suspended
Thursday, is close to dissident cleric Ali Montazeri.
Judiciary Clashes With Khatami's Culture Ministry, Reuters, April 27
TEHRAN - … Tehran's justice department, controlled by the clerical establishment, said Thursday the original bans were in response to articles that "disparaged Islam and the religious elements of the Islamic revolution."
The judicial body defended the crackdown and criticized the Culture Ministry, responsible for the once-flourishing press, for not taking action against the newspapers itself.
"If the ministry had performed its duties...the judiciary would not have been forced to take legal action in order to defend religious principles," it said in a statement.
Reformers are worried that the bans and propaganda against reform by the state broadcast monopoly, controlled by hard-liners appointed by supreme leader Ali Khamenei, could prepare the ground for a further crackdown.
Leaflets are being discreetly distributed in Tehran warning of a campaign of terror and a possible coup d'etat planned by a "crisis committee" run by some commanders of the security forces and elements of the state radio and television.
The judiciary's press clampdown came
after newspapers started asking questions about the "crisis committee."
News Bites
Associated Press, April 27: About 200 students demonstrated against the newspapers closures at the Shahid Beheshti University in northern Tehran in the early hours of Friday, said an Iranian journalist, speaking on condition of anonymity. The students burned tires and threw stones at university buildings and were dispersed by police after about an hour.
Associated Press, April 27: The hard-line authorities said they might call for recasting votes in the capital, Tehran. The capital's vote, they said, was marred by fraud and inconsistencies.
Reuters, April 27: The United States is "very concerned" at the crackdown on the reformist press in Iran, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said on Thursday. Speaking at a joint news conference with Russian Foreign Minister, Albright said: "We are very concerned about what is happening there now... We are going to have to watch this very carefully."
The Times of London, April 27: Iran is again teetering on turmoil… The only uncertainty is whether the hardliners' assault… is the prelude to a shutdown of parliament by those who have no intention of ever giving up power. If it is… Iran faces a long, bloody and dangerous struggle.