PRESS WATCHDOGS PROTEST THE "ILLEGAL" CLOSURE OF AZAD
PARIS, 18 July. (IPS) Several Iranian and international organisation defending the freedom of the press condemned the closure of "Azad" (Free), an independent Iranian daily on orders from the leader-controlled Judiciary.
The paper was ordered shut on 11 July, charged for having published full text of the statement issued on 9 July by the outspoken Friday imam of the central city of Esfahan, Ayatollah Jalaleddin Taheri, offering his resignation in protest of the appalling situation the clerical leadership have plunged the nation, thus contravening the decision of the Supreme Council of National Security (SCNS) banning the press from publishing anything about the controversial statement.
Hojjatoleslam Sa’id Mortazavi, the Judge of the notorious press court, dubbed "the Butcher of the press" who glorifies himself for having shut down 85 publications on order of his master, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, did not accepted explanations of Mr. Sarsafi, the editor of Azad, justifying that the decision of SCNS had reached the paper more than two hours after it had been printed out.
In a fax to Ayatollah Khameneh'i, the leader of the Islamic Republic, the Rome-based Association of Iranian Journalists Abroad (AIJA) said the closure of Azad was "utterly illegal" and protested to the fact that conservatives-backed newspapers continue to attack Ayatollah Taheri while the pro-reform press is prevented from supporting the dissident cleric.
In his "Letter to the Iranian Nation", Ayatollah Taheri faulted the present officials on 38 charges and said he had been "revolted" by what he described as the "chaotic situation" in Iran, marked by "disappointment, unemployment, inflation, daily price rises, the gap between rich and poor, a sick economy, corrupt bureaucracy, bribery, embezzlement, growing drug use, official incompetence and weak political structures".
He also accused those in power of using hard line thugs to enforce their rule and said "society's dregs and fascists" were acting as "philosophers, sheriffs and judges."
Editors of seven leading Iranian pro-reform publications, in a letter to the embattled President Khatami, protested the SCNS’s decision and demanded that Azad be allowed to return to the newsstands.
Mr. Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, spokesman for Iran's Press Freedom Association and former editor of several popular and influential newspapers that were also closed by the Judiciary said the announcements of the SNSC's secretariat was "illegal".
"We urge the authorities to reverse this arbitrary and illegal suspension", Mr. Robert Menard, the General Secretary of the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF, or Reporters Without Borders) said.
"Censoring comment on this subject is a serious matter. It especially undermines the exchange of ideas in Iran where for the past few years newspapers have played a major part", he added.
RSF, which has "awarded" the Iranian leader as one of the world’s "most dangerous predators of press freedom" protested in May against a similar ban on articles supporting dialogue between Iran and the United States.
President Mohammad Khatami officially heads the council, set up in 1989, but Ayatollah Khameneh'i presides over the powerful body and Hojjatoleslam Hassan Ruhani, who is close to the ruling conservatives, controls its secretariat.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also condemned the ban imposed on Azad.
"The media blackout on Ayatollah Taheri and the closure of Azad are crude attempts to silence public debate about a story of national interest", said CPJ executive director Ann Cooper. "There can be no justification for these acts of censorship. We call on Iranian authorities to reverse both bans immediately", she added. AZAD BAN PROTESTED 18702