NEW REFORMIST PAPER BRINGS MODERATES A "SPRING" FRESHNESS
By Safa Haeri
PARIS 8TH May (IPS) Barely two weeks after the leader of Islamic Republic Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i ordered the Judiciary to close almost all Iran's reformist and moderate newspapers and as several journalists, intellectuals, religious reformers and secularist personalities have been either jailed or summoned to Islamic revolutionary courts, the first trial number of "Bahar" (Spring), a new pro-reform daily hit Monday the news-stands.
Published by Mr. Sa'id Pourazizi, a member of President Mohammad Khatami's Bureau for Press Relations, the paper said in his first editorial that it would "fully" support reform and democratisation process.
Sources close to the new daily said "Bahar" would be staffed by journalists from "Sobhe Emrouz" (This Morning) and "Fath" (Victory) dailies, both of them shut in the unprecedented press crackdown of two weeks ago.
Sobhe Emrouz was published by Mr. Sa'id Hajjarian, an adviser and close friend of President Khatami who was shot last March but escaped death miraculously, as the gunman, believed to be connected with the Revolutionary Guards, had fired into his face at very close range.
For it's part, "Fath" had replaced "Khordad" after this title was shut following the controversial conservatives-controlled Clergymen's Special Tribunal (CST) decision to jail Hojjatoleslam Abdollah Nouri, a former Interior Minister and ally of the president on charges of insulting Islam and offending the leader.
Journalists in Tehran told Iran Press Service that they expect Sobhe Emrouz and Mosharekat, the organ of the pro-President Islamic Iran Participation Front that is led by the President's younger brother Dr Mohammad Reza Khatami to re-appear in the near future.
Analysts in Tehran speculated that the publication of a new pro-reform daily could well add to the anger of the conservatives, as they would interpret this as a challenge to their sustained efforts to muzzle the independent press in the one hand and an affront to the authority of the leader on the other.
It could also provide the outgoing conservatives-controlled Majles (parliament) further pretext to impeach the Islamic Culture and Guidance Minister Ata'ollah Mohajerani, one of the hard liners "bete noire", they added.
The other side of the coin is that the publication of a new reformist daily less than 2 weeks after the closure of 17 pro-reform and independent papers would both boost the moral of the reformist camp and strengthen the position of the President, badly battered by the conservatives after their humiliating defeat at the Legislative elections.
According to last results from the polls, the conservatives occupy 70 out of the 290 seats of the next Majles, against 200 for the pro-president Second Khordad (23 May) Front (SKF) and 20 to independent candidates, with some of them close to the reformists, meaning that the hard liners have not even a blocking minority.
These figures were released by the SKF side as the Council of Guardians (CG), a watchdog body that must approve of the results has put on hold the elections for Tehran, were the reformists swept 29 out of the 30 seats, counting an re-counting the votes in at least 500 of the 3000 ballot boxes, arguing "gross errors" in the previous counting in favour of the moderate candidates.
Reformists suspect the leader-controlled CG of taking the Capital's candidates as "hostages" in order to "empty" the Sixth Majles of all it's heavy weights, making it "a toothless Chamber, less punchy, less challenging", if not cancelling the results at once.
They have interpreted a laconic and vague statement by the CG saying "since it has not finished with recounting, it can not therefore offer a correct assessment of the situation and pronounce it's final decision" as a step towards annulling Tehran elections.
Mr. Behzad Nabavi, the spokesman for the second Khordad Coalition has warned the Guardians against such a move, promising the hard liners a "an even worse crushing defeat" it new elections are called for the Capital.
However, the number of the reformists and their affiliates in the next Majles which is due for official inauguration on 27th May is so overwhelming that even without the 29 Tehran candidates, they still have a large majority, securing them the seat of the Speaker, a first in the 21 years history of the Islamic Republic.
Meanwhile, the fourth court hearing for the Iranian Jews accused of spying for Israel ended Monday in Shiraz, with the Head of Fars Province Justice Department Hojjatoleslam Hosseinali Amiri telling the official news agency IRNA that three of the accused, Mr. Shahrokh Paknahad, Mr. Ramin Farzam and Naser Levy Ha'im had also admitted to "membership at the espionage network of the Zionist regime and providing information to Mossad", Israel's intelligence organisation.
According to Mr. Amiri, quoting Mr. Ha'im, Mossad's spying activities in Iran began as from 1979.
Ha'im was reported by IRNA as saying that he had undergone espionage courses in the "occupied lands" in 1979 through guidance of two officials of the
"Zionist regime"s intelligence service and persuaded people to join the spying network.
"The spy described his treatment by the Iranian security and judicial officials as very fair, adding that during my detention, there were no restrictions on my relatives to visit me'' IRNA quoted Mr. Ha'im as saying.
He said that he had admitted to charges against him at the court and called on the people, officials, especially the supreme leader of Islamic revolution Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, to pardon him, the agency added.
The next court hearing will be held on May 10. ENDS BAHAR 8500