NO ROOZ SUSPENDED, MR. MIRDAMADI BANNED FROM PRESS ACTIVITIES
TEHRAN 24 July 24(IPS) An Appeals Court in Tehran upheld Wednesday a verdict handed down previously by a tribunal against Mr. Mohsen Mirdamadi, the managing director of the daily No Rooz, sentenced to six months and two days of jail, a four-year ban from holding post in press circles and 2,000,000 Rials (250 US Dollars at the market exchange rate) in fine.
The newspaper, the un-official organ of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, the largest Iranian political party that supports the embattled President Mohammad Khatami and headed by his younger brother, Dr. Mohammad Reza Khatami, was also ordered banned for a period of six months, the official news agency IRNA reported, quoting the public relations department of the Tehran Justice Administration.
Bench 1410 found guilty the daily's managing director in 22 cases from among some 200 cases of complaint against him, including libel, insulting state officials, publishing lies, attempting to incite the public and violating elections regulations, IRNA said.
The information that the Appeals Court had confirmed the earlier sentence was published four days ago by "Jomhoori Eslami" (Islamic Republic) newspaper that belongs to Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, the leader of the Iranian clerical-led regime.
Mr. Hoseyn Amirabadi, the lawyer for both No Rooz and its Managing Editor confirmed that they had heard "from here and there" that the Appeals Court had confirmed the charges, but expressed surprise at the speed with which the Appeals responded to the appeal.
He also said it is possible that the publication of Ayatollah Jalaleddin Taheri’s controversial letter by No Rooz had something to do with the confirmation decision.
The paper had printed the accusatory letter, but left the whole space blank after the National Council for National Security had ordered the media publishing nothing in support or against the dissident Friday Preacher of the central city of Esfahan, who resigned from his post in protest to the appalling conditions the nation is run by the present leaders.
However, Mr. Amirabadi said in case the paper changes its managing editor, and in case the press supervisory board accepts the change, No Rooz could resume publication "without major problems".
Iran Press Service learned from journalistic sources that No Rooz’s staff intends to bring out a new newspaper, with slightly different name, in case the Appeals Court decision is withheld, refusing the paper come out in its present name and format.
The court hearings of Mr. Mirdamadi, who is also the leader of the National Security and Foreign Affairs Committee at the reformers-dominated Majles, or parliament, was one of the most controversial cases filed in the Judiciary for the press officials.
Mr. Mirdamadi, an outspoken reformist MM (Member of the Majles) had in his December hearing responded to charges lodged by the leader-controlled, state-run Radio and Television organisation (IRIB), the volunteer Basij militia and Iran's Elections Supervisory Board controlled by the conservatives. He had also been given a notification for 15 other cases of ignoring laws and regulations.
The Association of Iranian Journalist Abroad (AIJA), based in Rome and the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in different actions, condemned the ban imposed on No Rooz and on Mr. Mirdamadi.
In a fax to Mr. Khameneh'i, AIJA accused him of being behind the closure of No Rooz, reminding that on his orders, 85 other publications, almost all of them defending reforms, had been shut down and a dozen of influential journalists and commentators imprisoned sine April 2000.
Mr. Khameneh'i is "awarded" by the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders) as the "world’s most dangerous predator of press freedom".
"We condemn this flagrant act of censorship", said Ms. Ann Cooper, CPJ’s Executive Director. "With repeated newspaper closures and jail sentences for journalists, Iranian courts are showing a complete disregard for even the most basic standards of press freedom", she added.
Meanwhile, IRNA reported Wednesday that Mr. Siamak Poorzand, the 71 years-old veteran journalist and writer, sentenced to 11 years jail term on 7 July, has called for amnesty and expressed regret over his offences.
"In a press conference held here Poorzand regretted his past while promising to compensate for his past mistakes", the agency said.
Mr. Poorzand was abducted last December at her sister’s house doorsteps and was kept incognito for over two months before being quoted as having "confessed" to all charges against him, including working with Iranian opposition radio stations in the United States, receiving 4 billions (rpt four billions) dollars to be distributed among Iranian dissident journalists inside Iran, working for the SAVAK of the imperial Pahlavi regime, overthrown in 1979 Islamic Revolution, activities against the Islamic Republic etc.
Mr. Poorzand’s wife, Mrs Mehrangiz Kaar, 58, a prominent lawyer and outspoken human rights activist who is undergoing medical treatment in the United Stated says the case is "utterly political" and has appealed to the Iranian authorities for an open trial for her husband, complete with the presence of independent jurists and lawyers and the press.
She had been arrested in April 2000 for prejudicing national security and propaganda against the Islamic regime after taking part, with 17 other Iranian pro-reform personalities of all walk, in a Berlin seminar deemed anti-Islamic here by the authorities. She was released on bail.
"I say loudly, everywhere and in any circles that those radios which are acting against Iran's Islamic system are dependent upon the SAVAK and the Pahlavi regime sympathisers", IRNA quoted Mr. Poorzand as having admitted.
Poorzand, who is in a very poor health, further said he stood a fair trial in Iran and was truly repentant upon his mistakes, according to IRNA’s dispatch.
But in one of his last contacts with one of his daughters, he begged the family to refrain from "any effort to help his freedom", saying to consider him as "a dead man".
The sentence imposed on Mr. Poorzand, who run an artistic workshop in Tehran was denounced by Iranian and international press watchdogs and human rights organisations, including the London-based Amnesty International and various branches of the international Pen Club. ENDS NO ROOZ SUSPENDED 24702