PARIS With only two days remaining before the presidential election, Reporters sans Frontières (Reporters Without Borders) is calling upon the ten candidates, notably Mohammad Khatami, who is regarded as the favourite, to make a commitment to freedom of the press.

"The press is the best yardstick for democracy. Since 1997, when the current president was elected, the media have had great freedom of expression and have become an important arena for political debate.

But over the past year, conservatives have made attacks on this freedom by arresting journalists and shutting down reformist publications. In the event that Mohammed Khatami is re-elected, we ask him to support the press, no longer just through words, but also through action aimed at stopping the offensive led by the regime's hard-liners", announced Robert Ménard, general secretary of the organisation. 

RSF calls upon the future president, as guarantor of the Constitution (under article 133), to make a commitment to:

Putting an end to the completely arbitrary arrests of media professionals, that has been increasing over the past year;

++ Denouncing conditions whereby journalists are tried without a jury; putting an end to the partiality of judgements handed down by judges who carry out the dual functions of judge and public prosecutor;

++ Proposing a new press law to the Parliament guaranteeing freedom from discrimination on the grounds of language, religion or political opinion. The current law, passed on 17 April by the out-going Parliament (dominated by conservatives) stipulates that "persons sentenced by revolutionary courts for "threatening national security", or those who "spread propaganda hostile to the Islamic regime", may in no way gain authorisation for employment by a publication." This means that a journalist who has already been sentenced may never again practise their profession. Other sections of the present law prohibit "all direct or indirect foreign aid for newspapers" and the publishing of articles that criticise the Constitution.

Furthermore, RSF calls upon the future president to amend the Constitution by removing Article 24, which provides that "publications and newspapers are free to express any opinion except for those that undermine the foundations of Islam and public decency". Such a vague formulation is open to interpretation, and so the slightest criticism of the regime may be punished under the law.

Finally, the organisation calls upon the future president, elected by universal suffrage and thus with a legitimate mandate, to firmly denounce the conservative's initiatives against the reformist press by reaffirming support for all imprisoned journalists and by demanding that they be freed immediately and unconditionally. ENDS

NEW YORK June 6, 2001 - The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned that Iran's June 8 presidential election is taking place in an environment where local journalists are not free to report the news.

Five Iranian journalists are currently jailed for their work, according to CPJ research, and dozens of newspapers have been shut down.

"When Iranians last went to the polls in February 2000, the press was a vibrant force, informing the public and debating some of the most contentious issues in Iranian society," said CPJ executive director Ann Cooper.

"Today, the Iranian press has been decimated by judicial authorities. As a result, voters are being denied the possibility of choosing their next president based on a free and open public debate."

Particularly since last year, a small number of conservative Iranian judges have waged an aggressive campaign against the liberal press, shutting down some 40 newspapers and prosecuting and jailing outspoken journalists. Today, the most influential reformist newspapers have been silenced, at least five journalists are in prison because of their work, and the few pro-reform papers that exist are noticeably more cautious for the sake of their own survival.

"There is no excuse for throwing journalists in prison simply because they expressed views with which conservative authorities happen to disagree. We call on the Iranian government to free all the journalists who are currently jailed for their professional work," Cooper said.

As Iran goes to the polls, an aggressive conservative crackdown has reduced the pro-Khatami liberal press to a shadow of its former self.

By a CPJ correspondent

Tehran, June 6, 2001 --- On the eve of a presidential election that is expected to return President Mohammad Khatami to office, the liberal press that has backed his reformist agenda for the past four years is in nearly complete disarray.

Since last year, the conservative establishment's relentless assault on pro-reform journalists and newspapers has reversed most of the press freedom gains that followed Khatami's election in 1997. Although newspapers and journalists had often been targets of official harassment in previous years, the scope of the crackdown is unprecedented. Since last year, at least 40 newspapers have been shut down and numerous outspoken journalists have been prosecuted and jailed on vague charges such as insulting Islamic principles in their writings.

The liberal press that emerged under Khatami provided the backbone of support for the new president and his agenda of social and political liberalization. During that period, dozens of new publications started covering topics such as official corruption, the undemocratic behavior of the ruling clerical establishment, and the fundamental debate over Iran's theocratic form of government.

The climate is very different today. Only eight liberal newspapers are still publishing. At least five liberal journalists are in prison because of their work, hundreds of other journalists are unemployed, and many have gone to work for conservative newspapers in order to make money to support their families. Many journalists write under pseudonyms when they publish anything controversial, and a great number have abandoned journalism altogether for more secure jobs.

Iranians seem less enthusiastic about reading newspapers nowadays. Many have lost track of which papers are still on newsstands and which have been shut down. Total newspaper circulation in Iran has dropped from 3,120,000 before last year's crackdown to 1,750,000 in March of this year, according to the Association of Press Freedom, a local advocacy group.

Similarly, political books were very popular last year, but a drag on the market at a recent book fair in Tehran, said Mahboubeh Gholizadeh, a book publisher who also edits the women's monthly Farzaneh. Instead, people are reading more novels and books on culture and the arts. "People are fed up with the war between hardliners and reformists," Gholizadeh told CPJ.

"Like children whose parents are constantly fighting, they would like them to divorce once and for all so they can have peace and quiet and a sense of normalcy."

Local journalists estimate that in order to make ends meet, between 20 and 30 percent of liberal journalists who lost their jobs after their newspapers were shut down have been forced to take jobs at the more secure conservative publications. This trend may help the reformist cause in the long run, but it cannot replace the vibrant liberal press that flourished under Khatami until last year.

"They are more cautious now," explained the pro-reform journalist Issa Saharkhiz, publisher of the monthly Aftab. Saharkhiz used to publish the daily newspaper Akhbar-e Eqtesad ("Economic News"). Along with several dozen other publications, it was closed down by court order last year in the wake of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i's fiery April 20, 2000 speech attacking the reformist press.

"Now they understand the sensitivities of the hardliners," Saharkhiz said. "They don't attack the judiciary, and they refrain from talking about religion or the Leader [Khamenei]."

Nevertheless, Saharkhiz is optimistic about the future. Crucially, he points out, ideological cracks are beginning to appear in the once-monolithic Iranian judiciary.

On May 19, for instance, the Appeals Court slashed the 10-year jail sentence of journalist Akbar Ganji, who was jailed in the spring of last year, and cancelled Ganji's additional sentence of five years internal exile. The court ruled that Ganji would be released after posting bail of US$75,000.

And morale is not only a problem for the victims of the crackdown.

According to Saharkhiz, many judges no longer use their real names in court. The judge of Tehran's notorious Revolutionary Court, for example, is known only as Ahmadi. "They wouldn't be hiding themselves if they believed in what they were doing," said Saharkhiz, adding that the judiciary has also had difficulty finding "suitable" jurors to serve at the Press Court in Tehran.

Press Court jurors are appointed for two years, and decide every case before the court during their term. The current 12-man jury began work eight months ago, but several jurors were dismissed after they decided that defendants were either not guilty or that their guilt did not deserve the stiff sentences being demanded.

As for the future of the reformist press, much will depend on the result of Friday's election. ENDS RSF-CPJ STATEMENTS 8601