Aadel Collection
Iran 2003 Report
Reporters sans fronti res - Iran - 2003 Annual report
Airita
Am rkas
Asia
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IRAN
Area : 1,648,00 sq. km.
Population : 71,369,000
Language : Persian
Type of state : Islamic republic
. Head of state : All Khamenei (Supreme Guide of the Islamic
Republic)
Head of government : President Mohammad Khataml
Iran -2003 Annual report
Iran remained the biggest prison for journalists in the Middle
East, with 10 journalists in jail at the end of 2002. Once
again the year was marked by very many suspensions of
newspapers, legal summonses, arrests and prison sentences
for journalists. The regim&s reformist wing protested against
these attacks on the media but were unable to restrain a
legal system under the control of hardliners.
Press freedom was a centrepiece of President Mohammad Khatamis
reform programme when he was elected in 1997. But every year
since then, the hardliners who control the judiciary have regarded
the media as a threat to the foundations of the country's Islamic
system and therefore dangerous.
Fewer journalists were arrested in 2002, but 10 were still in prison
at the end of the year serving sentences of between three and eight
years. Many others were free but were being prosecuted or had
already received sentences of up to 11 years in jail.
The regimes hardliners continued to shut down reformist
newspapers temporarily or permanently. The eLorts of parliament,
which is in the hands of the reformers, to amend the April 2000
press law under which the papers were closed proved fruitless.
A total of 85 papers, Including 41 dailies, had been closed since the
law was passed, noted Mehrnoosh Jafari, secretary-general of the
national press department at the ministry of cultural and Islamic
guidance, said in August. A total of 18 were shut down in 2002. The
reformist Iran Press Freedom Association said more than 1,800
journalists and photographers had lost their jobs over three years
because of the closures and suspensions.
Page 1 of 11
COUNTRIES LIST
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Introduction - 2003 Annu
Algeria
Egypt
Iran
Iraq
4 Israel and the Occup. Ter
Jordan
4 Kuwait
Lebanon
. Libya
Mauritania
A Morocco
4 Palestinian Authority
. Qatar
4 Saudi Arabia
4 Sudan
Syria
Tunisia
United Arab Emirates
4 Yemen
SEE ALSO
2003 Africa Annual Repc
2003 Asia Annual Repor
2003 Americas Annual R
4 2003 Europe Annual Re
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NORTH AFRICA / MIDDLE
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After the shutdown In early May 2002 of two of the best-known
reformist dailies, Nowrooz and Bonyan, the main reformist party,
the Iran Participation Front, denounced the iilegaI and unjustified'
actions of the judiciary which was ‘restricting press freedom and
breaking pens.” It said political decisions by some judges continue
to violate the national constitution and Ignore other rules and
regulations.'
Several journalists, such as Taghi Rahmani, were released from jail
during the year but this was seen as trying to impress the European
Union, with whom trade negotiations began in the autumn.
Many subjects remained taboo for the media, such as dissident
clerics, sex, religion and the country's relations with the United
States. In September, a public opinion poll reported by the official
news agency IRNA scandalised the hardliners because it showed
74.4 per cent of Iranians favouring a resumption of ties with the US.
The poll was published the day aifier a fierce anti-American speech
by the Supreme Guide of the Islamic Republic, All Khamenel.
Judge Said Mortazavi, head of Court 1410, known as “the press
court,' summoned severar newspaper publishers and ordered them
not to write anything about the poll. The heads of the public opinion
firms that did the poii, who were also journalists, were meanwhile
arrested and accused of taking money from the US polling firm
Gallup. At the end of the year, the authorities said US journalists
coming Iran would be fingerprinted.
The 1998 murder of a group of intellectuals, three of them
journalists, remained a hot issue with the arrest of Nasser
Zarafshan, the lawyer for the victims' families, in August.
New information on journalists killed before 2002
The murder in late 1998 of a group of intellectuals and regime
opponents - among them Daryush and Parvaneh Foroohar, symbolic
figures of the liberal opposition, Majid Sharif, a columnist with the
monthly Iran-&Farda and writers and journalists Moha mad Mokhtarl
and Mohamad Jafar Pouyandeh - deeply shocked Iranians and
outraged much of the reformist media. The authorities reacted by
opening an investigation and in January 1999 the Intelligence
ministry officially admitted some its agents had been involved and
announced the arrest of dozens of suspects. Pirooz Davani, editor of
the newspaper Pirooz who disappeared in late August 1998 and
whose body was never found, was also among the victims,
according to reformist leaders who added his name to the list In
2002. In January 2001, three intelligence ministry agents were
sentenced to death and 12 others to prison terms for murdering the
Foroohar couple. Three other people were acquitted. The case was
sent to the supreme court, which had not yet ruled by the end of
2002. The victims' families complained that those who ordered the
killing were still free. The families' lawyer, Nasser Zarafshan, was
arrested on 7 August. A military court had convicted him In March of
disclosing details of the case flue and sentenced him to five years In
prison, which was upheld by an appeals court in July. The families
announced to a rally of 5,000 people on 22 November to mark the
killings that they would petition the UN Human Rights Commission
to investigate the murders.
36 journalists imprisoned
Ten were still in prison at the end of 2002, but as many as 35 spent
various lengths of time In jail during the year, oifien without trial.
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Akbar Ganji, of the daily Sobh- -Emrooz, was arrested on 22 April
2000 aifier appearing before the press court. He was accused of
revealing details of the murder of intellectuals and regime
opponents in iate 1998 and accusing top politicians at the time, such
as Au Failahian and Hashemi Rafsanjani, of being involved. He was
also accused of writIng articles in favour of dissident cleric Ayatollah
Hossein-Ali Montazeri, under house arrest since 1989.
Ganji was also accused of taking part in a Berlin conference In April
2000 to discuss reforms In Iran that was considered anti-Islamic by
the authorities. At one hearing, he said he had been tortured In
prison. He was sentenced to 10 years in jail on 13 January 2001. In
May that year It was reduced on appeal to six months, But on 15
July, the supreme court cancelled the reduction because of
supposed technical errors and imposed a six-year jail sentence.
Ganji has been allowed out of prison several times for a few days
after posting high sums as bail.
Khaiil Rostamkhani, of the Daily News and Iran Echo, was arrested
on 8 May 2000 and tried by the Teheran revolutionary court on 9
November that year. The prosecutor asked for the death penalty,
accusing him of being a ‘mohareb (fighter against God') and of
receiving and distributing leaflets and statements by exiled
opposition groups and of helping to organise the April 2000 BerlIn
reform conference, which was considered subversive. He was freed
on bail on 16 November and on 13 January 2001 was sentenced to
nine years in prison. He remained free until 25 August, when he was
sentenced on appeal to a reduced sentence of eight years.
Emadoldin Baghi, of the daily Fath, was arrested on 29 May 2000
aifier a hearing before the press court. On 17 July that year he was
sentenced to five years In prison for ‘undermining national security'
and ‘spreading false news in a September 1999 editorial in the
daily paper Neshat In which he advocated a modern approach by
Islam to the death penalty. The Revolutionary Guards (Pasdaran)
and former intelligence minister Au Fallahian had flied complaints
against him. His sentence was cut to three years by an appeals
court on 23 October 2000.
Hassan Yussef] Eshkevari, a theologian and contributor to the
monthly Iran- -Farda, was arrested on 5 August 2000 and sent to
Teheran's Evin prison aifier his home had been searched. He had
gone to Europe in April to attend the Berlin conference and get
treatment for his diabetes.
At his trial, held In secret before the special religious court from 7 to
15 October that year, he was accused of subverting national
security, defaming the authorities, undermining the reputation of
the clergy and of beIng a mohareb (‘fighter against God). On 12
October 2002, he was called before the court and told he had been
sentenced to seven years in prison - four years for saying that
wearing the veil and other Islamic dress codes for women had
cultural and historic roots in Iran and were not a necessity for Islam,
one year for attending the Berlin conference and two years for
“spreading false news.”
All Failah and Babak Ghani-Pour, of the magazine Arman, published
at the University of Yazd, were arrested on 25 June 2001 allegedly
aifier “complaints by several cultural and Islamic associations” at the
university and sentenced respectively to five and three years in
prison.
Behrooz Gheranpayeh, head of the National Institute of Public
Opinion and a journalist with the daily Nowrooz, was arrested on 16
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October 2002 and sent to Evin prison, accused of spying and
collaborating with the Mujahideen exiled armed opposition.
Hossein Ghazian, one of the directors of the Ayandeh public opinion
institute and a journalist with the daily Nowrooz, was arrested on 31
October and sent to Evin prison.
Abbas Abdi, another Ayandeh director, ex-editor of the daily Salam
and former staL member of many reformist newspapers, was
arrested at his home on 4 November. Press court Judge Said
Mortazavi accused Ayandeh of receiving money from the US polling
firm Gallup “or from a foreign embassy.
The three arrests came after the 22 September publication by the
official news agency IRNA of a poll by Ayandeh and the National
InstItute of Public Opinion showing 74.4% of Iranians favouring a
resumption of ties with the United States. In October, Judge
Mortazavi summoned severai newspaper publishers and ordered
them not to write about the poii.
Ali-Reza Jabarl, a translator and freelance contributor to several
independent newspapers, inciuding Adineh, was arrested at his
office In Teheran on 28 December by non-uniformed individuais,
who took him to his home, searched It and seized videotapes, books
and his computer hard-drive. The next day, his wife went to Adareh
Amaken, a city police department considered close to the
intelligence services and which had summoned many journailsts for
questioning In previous weeks. She was toid nobody by the name of
her husband had been arrested. She was given the same answer at
the centrai police station.
An interview with Jabarl was published on 25 December in a
Persian-ianguage newspaper In Canada, Charvand, in which he said
the country's hardline spiritual leader, Ayatoilah Au Khamenei,
Supreme Guide of the Islamic Republic, wanted the crisis in Iran to
get worse. Jabari, a member of the Iranian Writers Association, has
translated many Iranian works, some of them banned, into Engiish.
Severai journalists were freed during 2002, some after several
months In prison and other aifier more than two years.
Issa Khandan, editor of the social aLairs pages in the daily papers
Khordad and Fath, were freed on bail on 29 January. He had been
arrested on 10 November 2001.
Ezatollah Sahabi, managing editor of the monthiy Ira n- -Farda, was
freed on bail of two billion riais (about 300,000 euros) on 2 March.
He had been arrested on 26 June 2000 by order of the Teheran
revolutionary court after taking part in the Berlin conference. He
was freed on bail on 21 August but arrested again on 17 December,
this time accused of making “propaganda against the regime” in a
speech the previous month at Teheran's Amir-Kabir Technical
University. He was sentenced to four and half years In prison on 13
January 2001. In December that year, this was cut to six months
but he was kept in prison. At the end of 2002, he was waiting for
the resuit of his appeal.
Abbas Daivand, editor of the magazine Lorestan, was freed on bail
on 10 March but in mid-May was given a six-month suspended jail
sentence and the magazine was banned for a year for pubilshing
insults and false statements” about several state institutions. He
had been arrested on 6 January 2002.
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Hoda Saber, one of the editors of the banned magazine Iran--
Farda, was freed on bail of 1.3 billion rials (about 195,000 euros) on
12 March. He had been jailed on 28 January 2001 and tried
(conducting his own defence) between 4 and 6 March 2002. By the
end of the year, the verdict had not been announced.
Heshmatoliah Tabarzadl, editor of Hovlat-&Khish and Peyam--
Daneshjou and a student leader, was freed on 27 March. He had
been arrested on 19 January aifier appearing before the
revolutionary court and had been picked up several times In the
previous three years.
Taghi R.ahmani, of the weekly OmId- -Zangan, was freed on 16 April
after more than a year In prison. He had been arrested on 11 March
2001 during a raid on the home of Mohammad Bastehnaghar - a
progressive opposition leader and journalist with Asr- -Azadegan -
where about 30 people were meeting.
Fazioiiah Salavati, editor of the Ispahan weekly Navid- -Esfahan,
was freed on bali on 17 AprIl. He had been arrested on 7 AprIl 2001
with about 40 other people close to the moderate Islamist party, the
Movement for the Liberation of Iran, which had been banned a
month earlier, and accused of collaborating with counter-
revolutionary groups.
Ahmad Gabel, of Hayat- -No, was freed on 6 May. He had been
arrested on 31 December 2001 by order of the religious court. He
wrote comment articles In many reformist publications and regularly
gave interviews to foreign radio stations. He was very critical of the
hardiiners, especiaily of Au Khamenei, Supreme Guide of the Islamic
Republic.
Reza Tehrani, editor of the magazine Klan, was freed on ball on 5
July. He had been arrested on 7 April 2001 with some 40 other
people close to the moderate Islamist party, the Movement for the
Liberation of Iran, which had been banned in March, and accused of
collaborating with counter-revolutionary groups.
Abdoilah Noon, managing editor of the daily Khordad, was
amnestied on 4 November. He had been arrested on 27 November
1999 and sentenced by the religious court to five years In prison and
fined 15 million rlais (about 2,250 euros) for 15 oLences, Including
‘anti-reiigious propaganda, insulting Ayatollah Khomeini,
‘undermining public opinion and having links with the United
States.' The paper was ordered closed.
Hamid Jafari-Nasrabadi (editor) and Mahmud Mojdayi (reporter) of
the student magazine Kavir, were freed in early December. They
had been jailed in Teheran on 9 May 2001 aifier being questioned for
several hours by a judge of the press court about an article
considered ‘blasphemous and written in “an indecent style.” The
paper had been suspended.
Slamak Pourzand, who was oifien heard on US-based opposition
radio stations, was freed In early December. He was aiso head of the
Majmue-ye Farrhangi-ye Honari-ye Tehran cultural centre In
Teheran where he invited artists, lnteiiectuais and writers. lie had
been arrested on 24 November 2001. Pourzand, who wrote articles
very critical of the Isiamist regime, was sentenced to 11 years in
prison in early May 2002 for ‘undermining state security” and
having links with monarchists and counter-revoiutionarles.” The
court said it had taken into account his confession of gulit. lie had
admitted all the charges and said he did not have to defend himself.
His family said they were worried that psychoiogicai pressure while
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Reporters sans fronti res - Iran - 2003 Annual report Page 6 of 11
in prison had forced him to confess. The daily paper Rissalat
reported on 18 June that the Teheran appeals court had upheld his
sentence.
Four journalists physically attacked
Three journalists were beaten by Islamic extremists 22 November
2002 while reporting on a rally of 5,000 people marking the killing
of a group of intellectuals and regime opponents at the end of 1998.
Several hundred extremists punched and hit people with sticks
without police Intervening.
Latif Safari, managing editor of the banned newspaper Neshat, was
injured on 10 June during a fight provoked by Islamic extremists
who attacked a meeting of Islamic reformers in a mosque in the
western town of Kermanshah. Safari had been due to speak.
Pressure and obstruction
Legal officials suspended the film weekly Cinema Jahan on 24
January 2002 aifier a complaint from Teheran province legal
authorities. Judge Said Mortazavi, head of Court 1410, known as the
press court, accused the weekly's editor of publishing lies that stir
up the public and create tension and insecurity in the media,” and
violate decorum,! as well as “misusing the image of women.
Another film publication, the monthly Gozaresh- -Fllm, was
suspended on 27 January for printing untrue articles and ‘obscene
photos. A few months earlier, the head of the Teheran judiciary,
Abassali Alizadeh, publicly accused its publisher, Karim Zargar, of
being a “counter-revolutionary.” A week before the suspension, Its
editor, Nushabeh Amiri, received phone threats from Adareh
Amaken, a Teheran police department dealing with mora1ity !
offences and close to the intelligence services. The monthly was
indefinitely suspended in June. Legal officials suspended the film
monthly Cinema-ta'atre on 29 January for printing articles
considered untrue and photos considered obscene.
The suspension of the three film publications was llified on 30
January aifier they wrote to the judiciary and deputy culture minister
Mohammad Hassan Pezeshk. A group of liberal intellectuals,
Including several journalists and lawyers of Imprisoned journalists,
were summoned In mid-February by the Teheran police department
Adareh Amaken. Reformist member of parliament AIi-Asghar
Hadizadeh said they were “interrogated about their past and their
political and religious views and were insulted.” Among the
journalists were Firooz Guran, publisher of the magazine Jameh-&
Salem, Nushabeh Amiri, Hoshang Asadi and Peyam Afsalinejad, of
Gozaresh-&Fiirn, and Au Dehbashi, publisher of the newspaper Kilk
and publisher of Bokhara.
Press court Judge Said Mortazavi suspended the hardline daily
Siyassat- -Rooz for two months on 24 February. The reason was not
clear.
The Teheran appeals court confirmed on 6 March the closure of the
reformist weekly Asr-&Ma (which had been suspended in December
2001) and reduced the prison sentence of its publisher, Mohammad
Salamati, from 26 to 17 months, He had been convicted of
spreading a rumour In December 2000 about a bid to sack President
Mohammad Khatami.
Said Afzar, of the reformist daily Iran, was summoned by the press
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court on 16 April in relation to an article considered ‘Insulting to
religion. He was freed a few hours later.
Also on 16 April, the court in the northwestern city of Tabriz banned
the regionai weekly Chams-&Tabriz and sentenced its publisher Au-
Hamed Iman to seven months in prison and 74 lashes for ‘insuiting
religion. He remained free however. He was accused of printing
false news,' trying to stir up inter-ethnic discord” and insuiting
religion, the ieaders of the regime and the Prophet.
Ahmad Zeid-Abadi, of the reformist daiiy Hamshahri and the
monthly Iran- -Farda, was sentenced by the press court on 17 April
to 23 months in prison and banned from social and public activity
for five years for propaganda against the Isiamic regime and its
institutions.' It accused him of making “provocative statements that
threaten national security.” He had gone against official government
policy and defended President Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian
Authority and condemned Paiestlnian suicide bombers. He appealed
against the verdict and remained free. The film magazine Honar-&
Haftom was suspended by a committee of the Islamic guidance
ministry on 22 April for pubiishing articles and photos that did not
meet with approval.
Mostafa Kavakebian, managing editor of the reformist daiiy
Mardornashari, was summoned by legal offlciais on 27 April.
Jalal Jalaii, of the weekly Sirvan, in the IKurdistan town of Sanandej,
was summoned by the revoiutionary court on 28 April.
Several muilahs in the hoiy city of Qom called on 29 April for the
punishment of Abdollah Nasseri Taheri, managing editor of the
newspaper Iran, the organ of President Khatami's government. They
urged that the verdict of God be appiied, which could be
interpreted as the death penaity.
The court in Qom sentenced Hojat Heydari, of the weekly Payam-e-
Qom, to four months in prison and a six-month ban on working as a
journalist on 1 May for aliegedly insulting the ideals of the Isiamlc
revolution and putting out false news.” The sentence was
suspended for two years on condition that he was not convicted
again of such offences during the period. The court said the
offending articles, about corruption in Qom, intended to promote
“immorality and corruption” in a city whose inhabitants were
‘fervent beiievers well-known for their devotion to religious values.'
Heydari appeaied against the verdict.
The independent daily Bonyan was suspended ‘until further notIce
on 4 May for “many repeated oLences and for using the titie and
logo of a weekly of the same name. Many banned journalists,
including Ahmad Zeid-Abadi, had written for the paper, which was
popular among university students and a piace of discussion for
reformers because of its criticism of the regimes hardliners.
Also on 4 May, the daily paper Iran was suspended for insulting the
sacred values of Islam and “putting out false news in an articie
about a book by Tuka Maleki about Iranian women musicians, which
said the Prophet Mohammed used to enjoy listening to music sung
and played by women. The article outraged the clergy. Its author,
Banafsheh Samgis, had appeared before a court on 1 May. The day
aifier the suspension, In response to much criticism, the head of the
judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmud Sharudi, cancelied it. But the paper
was still facing prosecution in connection with nearly 100 formal
complaints.
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Mohsen Mirdamadi, managing editor of the reformist daily Nowrooz,
was sentenced by the press court in Teheran on 8 May to six months
in prison, banned for four years from publishing anything or ‘holding
a management position in the press” and fined two billion rials
(about 300,000 euros). Mirdamadi, who is also chairman of
parliament's national security committee, was convicted on the basis
of 200 formal complaints that included “insulting senior figures,”
“publishing lies” and “undermining national security.” He appealed
against the verdict and remained free. Nowrooz, organ of the
country's main reformist party, was also suspended for six months
but appeared normally the next day. The sentences were confirmed
on 24 July and the paper was then closed.
Issa Sahakhis, publisher of the monthly Aifiab, was summoned by
the press court on 23 May.
On 25 May, legal officials banned publication of articles about
relations between Iran and the United States aifier Nowrooz said
informal contacts had been made between top Iranian and US
offficials in Nicosia or Ankara in previous months. The question of
relations with the US had split the Iranian regime, against a
backcloth of the US fight against terrorism in the region, but the
authorities decreed that simply mentioning the subject was an
‘offence” and “against national interests.” Some reformers were
indignant about the illegality of the ban. Mirdamadi said any talks
going on between Iran and the US should be held “in the open” and
not secretly.
Davud Allah-Verdinik, publisher of the daily paper Ruzdara, in the
southeastern region of Zahedan, was sentenced on appeal on 6 June
to three months in prison for libel and the suspension of the paper
was confirmed, He remained free. Nushabeh Amiri and Hoshang
Asadi, of Gozaresh- -Film, were interrogated for more than eight
hours on 26 June, mainly about imprisoned journalist Siamak
Pourzand.
The publishers of Hemat, the local council's magazine In the
northwestern town of Mashhad, appeared before the local court on 6
July accused of publishing “untrue articles” and a photo of Reza
Shah, father of the last Shah.
The press court suspended the daily Azad on 11 July as it was about
to print a report about the resignation of Ayatollah )alaleddin Taheri,
prayer-leader of Ispahan. The move came a day aifier the country's
Supreme National Security Council had forbidden the media to
publish anything either favourable or hostile to the ayatollah, hours
aifier publication in the reformist press of an open letter from him
which caused uproar amongst conservatives.
In the letter, he announced his resignation in protest against what
he called the “chaotic situation” in Iran, marked by “disappointment,
unemployment, inflation, daily price rises, a terrible gap between
rich and poor, a sick economy, corrupt bureaucracy, bribery,
embezzlement, growing drug use, official incompetence and weak
political structures.”
Deputy culture minister Shahan Shahidi-Moadab called on other
publications to obey the censorship order. However, several
conservative papers that commented on Taheri's resignation were
not suspended. The 12 July issue of Nowruz, which had intended to
comment on the letter, published censored articles. Mashallah
Shamsolvaezin, spokesman for Iran's Press Freedom Association,
said the announcements of the Supreme National Security Council's
secretariat were “Illegal.”
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In mid-July, Alireza Farahmand, of Neshat and Toos, Iraj Jamshidi,
editor of Eghtesad- -Asla, Esmali Jamshidl, publisher of the
magazine Gardon, Nushabeh Amiri and Hoshang Asadi, of Gozaresh-
&Fiim, were interrogated by the Adareh Amaken police section
about their supposed ties with what the regime called ‘the
subversive cultural front' that Imprisoned journalist Slamak
Pourzand was accused of belonging to.
Mah-Jabin Abutorabi, publisher of the weekly Aref, decided on 4
August to close aifier receiving warnings from officials not to write
any more about the suspension of Nowrooz. I closed down to avoid
going to prison,” she said, adding that she feared prosecution.
Legal officials Issued an arrest warrant on 5 August for pro-reform
journalist Massood Behnood, a contributor to Adineh, Neshat and
Asr- -Azadegan, who had been imprisoned between August and
December 2000 for undermining national security,' ‘helping foreign
media” and ‘insulting the supreme Guide,' Ayatollah Au Khamenei.
On 10 September 2001, the appeals court upheld his sentence of 19
months in prIson. Behnood was in exile abroad.
The Teheran revolutionary court filed a complaint on 7 August
against the official news agency IRNA for illegally” publishing a
statement by the opposition Movement for the Liberation of Iran
which it said should never have been printed because the sentences
passed on the party and its members were not definitive. The court
had banned the party at the end of )uly and sentenced 33 of its
members to prison terms. On 3 August, the party called the
convictions ‘unexpected and extraordinary.”
The press court suspended the reformist daily Ayineh-&Jonub on 8
August, a week aifier It had first appeared. Its publisher, Mohammad
Dadfar, had just been sentenced to three months in prison for
making “propaganda against the regime.” Also on 8 August, legal
officials ordered the suspension of the reformist daily Rooz- -No
because It had a similar name to Nowrooz, which had been closed
the previous month. However the paper had obtained permission to
publish and was about to do so the following week. Press court
president Judge Said Mortazavi said publication could not be allowed
until the six-month suspension of Nowrooz had ended.
Legal oLlcials shut down the reformist daily Bamdad-4-No (which
had been suspended in April 2000) indefinitely on 15 August.
The weekly Hadis- -Gazvin was suspended on 21 August aifier a
complaint filed by the prosecutor in the northern province of Gazvin.
Publisher Naghi Afshari had been arrested and jailed In January
2001 for “criticising the judiciary” and publishing an “insulting”
cartoon about It.
The reformist daily Gozarech-&Rooz (suspended in April 2000) was
closed indefinitely on 26 August and publisher Mohammed Mahdavi
was sentenced to 25 months in prison, though he remained free.
The provincial weekly Nameh Gazvin was suspended by the Gazvln
court on 28 August for publishing Insults and false statements.”
Leila Farhatpour, head of the literary and arts section of the
publications Toos and Asr-&-Azadegan, was summoned on 2 and 5
September by the Adareh Amaken police department.
The reformist daily Goiestan- -Iran was suspended on 15
September for publishing articles that were “false and opposed to
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Reporters sans fronti res - Iran - 2003 Annual report Page 10 of 11
the Islamic regime” and the reformist weekly Vagat was suspended
for publishing depraved pictures and “morally offensivel articles.
Absali Aiizadeh, the head of the judiciary In Teheran, had filed a
complaint against Vagat.
Fatemeh Govaral, of Omld- -Zangan and Peyam Ajar, was
summoned on 29 September by sectIon 26 of the revolutionary
court for “undermInIng national securIty.”
Abdoliah Nasserl, head of the official news agency IRNA, was
summoned by legal officials on 30 September aifier the agency
published the results of a public opinion poll showing strong support
for a resumption of talks between Iran and the US, The poll
outraged regime hardllners.
On 8 October, CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour was refused a
visa to enter the country while accompanying British foreign
secretary Jack Straw on a tour of the region. On her last visit to Iran
In February 2000, she had done a report about Iranian youth which
had displeased the regime, which sometimes refuses visas to foreign
journalists on such grounds. CNN is received In Iran by satellite
dishes. Issa Khandan, editor of the social affairs pages on the daily
papers Khordad and Fath, was summoned by the revolutionary court
on 10 October for questioning about subversive activities.”
Fatemeh Kamali, publisher of the weekly Jamee- -No and wife of
journalist Emadoldin Baghi (imprisoned since May 2000), was
interrogated on 21 October by the press court, along with Ezatoilah
Sahabi, publisher of the newspaper Ira n- -Farda.
Also on 21 October, Reza Aiijani, editor of the monthly Iran-&-Farda
and winner of the 2001 Reporters Without Borders - Fondation de
France Prize, was summoned by the Teheran revolutionary court,
the first time he had been questioned since being released from
prison on bail on 16 December 2001. He had been arrested by
security agents on 24 February 2001. His trial for “collaborating with
counter-revolutionaries from abroad” ended on 2 November 2002,
but by the end of the year, the verdict had not been announced.
The twice-weekly paper Veiayat- -Gazvin was suspended on 27
October.
Narghues Mohamadi, of Peyam Ajar, was summoned by the Teheran
revolutionary court on 4 November accused of “disturbing public
order.”
The minister of culture and Islamic guidance banned the media on 6
November from publishing any advertisements for American
products.
Mohammad Hosssein Khoshvaght, head of the press and foreign
journalists department at the ministry of culture and Islamic
guidance, said on 11 November that US journalists would henceforth
be fingerprinted when they entered the country, in reprisal for
“American ill-treatment of Iranian citizens,”
Legal officials in Gazvin suspended the weekly Nameh Gazvin for
three months on 21 November “for inciting young people to
Immorality and indecency.” It was also found guilty of “undermining
revolutionary spirit” and fined three million rials (about 450 euros).
Amin Bozorgian, editor of Goiestan-&Iran, was kidnapped by
strangers on 26 November. He was freed on 1 December.
http :/Iwww.rsf .orglartic Le.php3 ?id_article=6688 6/23/2004
Reporters sans fronti res - Iran - 2003 Annual report Page 11 of 11
The weekly Hadis-&Gazvin was banned for f9ve months at the end
of November (though It had not appeared for a year) and fined 7
million rials (about 1,050 euros).
Legai oLicials conflrrned on 24 December the suspension of the
reformist daily Aftab- -Emrooz (suspended In April 2000). The
reformist weekly Shams- -Tabriz, In the northwestern city of Tabrlz,
was shut down indefinitely and Its publisher, Ali-Hamed Iman, given
on appeal a suspended two-year prison sentence and ordered to
receive 74 lashes. He remained free.
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http://www rsf.org/artic1e php3?i.d art•icle=6688
6/2.3/2004
