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RFE/RL IranReport
Radio Free Europe / Radio librety

HEATED REACTIONS TO CLOSING OF PRESS DEBATE. There have been strong reactions to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's 6 August letter blocking parliamentary debate on a strict press law. Questions have been raised about the permissibility of such a move as well as about the existing press law. At the same time, arrests of journalists and newspaper closures are continuing. Such developments are not very encouraging for the reformists or for President Mohammad Khatami's bid for a second term.

Former parliamentarian Qasem Sholeh Saadi suggested in an interview with RFE/RL's Persian Service that closing the debate on the press law, or on any subject, is not permissible. He said that "It is the right of the parliamentarians to request changes in the parliamentary agenda and not that of the presiding board. The parliament can do so, but the presiding board has sworn to abide by the agenda, remain neutral, and observe the rights of the parliament and the parliamentarians and not violate the law."

The issue is not dead, parliamentarian Elahe Kulayi told the 8 August "Bahar." She explained that "with regard to the viewpoints of the eminent leader [Khamenei], there are a diversity of views. So, the possibility of the renewed decision on the reading of the bill on the amendment to the press law is not totally non-existent."

The press law, as it now stands, is similar to the plan recommended by the now-deceased Ministry of Intelligence and Security official Said Emami (see "RFE/RL Iran Report," 12 July 1999). The law permits Revolutionary Courts to prosecute press cases and prohibits the reappearance of banned publications under a new name. Also, the new law makes journalists, as well as publications' directors, liable for what appears in the press.

RFE/RL's Persian Service asked reformist journalist Masud Behnoud why the press law had been made so strict in the first place. Behnoud explained: "When the hardliners discovered that they were losers of the last elections, they made a few major changes to the press law at the end of the fifth parliament. These changes were based on one point only. They discovered they lost the election solely due to the presence of the press. Therefore, press has the power of making up the people's mind and they can be the determining factor, and observed the effect of the press campaign and advertisement in the past months. They changed the press law so that these things will not take place."

As reformists voiced their objections to the ban on the debate and criticized parliamentary speaker Hojatoleslam Mehdi Mahdavi-Karrubi for permitting it, hardliners demonstrated outside the parliament, the Tehran Bazaar and Guilds Association announced that it would stay closed for several hours to support Khamenei's action, and the demonstrations spread to Qom, according to London's "Al-Hayat" on 10 August. Parliamentary speaker Karrubi told state radio on 8 August "there is no need for demonstrations. ...I appreciate this, but there is no need for this..."

As disputes over these developments continued, so too did harassment of the press. A temporary detention order for journalist Mohammad Quchani was issued on 13 August, after he appeared in court to hear the charges against him. Satirical columnist Ebrahim Nabavi is being held after appearing before the court on 12 August. Journalist Masud Behnoud (see above) was imprisoned on 9 August after a lengthy interrogation. The warrant against Behnoud, who has written for several of the now-banned newspapers, was issued after he failed to appear in court to hear 85 complaints filed against him by state prosecutors and the Ansar-i Hizbullah. Writer Ahmad Zeydabadi was detained on 8 August.

Also, the Press Court closed "Bahar" by on 8 August--suspended temporarily pending a trial. Publisher Said Purazizi told IRNA that his daily was ordered shut for a 7 August interview about the press law and its headline on the same topic a day later. "Manateq-i Azad" editor Mohammad Reza Yazdanpanah was sentenced on 13 August to pay a cash fine and his daily received a five-month ban, retroactive from April, when it was initially closed. The trial of Ahmad Hakimipur, editor of "Omid-i Zanjan" weekly, started on 12 August.

The domestic media, furthermore, was accused of cooperating with foreign elements. Tehran Justice Department chief Hojatoleslam Abbasali Alizadeh said that the courts would work hard to eliminate this cooperation. He said, according to state radio on 7 August, "Some of these elements are at the origin of propaganda campaigns against the regime and cooperate with foreign media such as the Voice of America and Israeli radio, the BBC and Radio Free Europe."

The ban on a debate of the press law, the arrests, and the Bahar closure, have elicited international condemnation. The World Association of Newspaper and World Editors Forum voiced their objections in an open letter. Ann Cooper, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said in a statement that the debate ban represented another act of repression from a leader who she said has made clear his disdain for freedom of the press. Amnesty International expressed concern about the medical condition of Behnoud, Zeydabadi, and reformist cleric Hojatoleslam Hassan Yussef Eshkevari, who was detained on 5 August. And Reporters Without Frontiers said that "after Burma, Iran is the biggest jail for journalists in the world."

U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that "[w]e would expect the government of Iran to uphold the international Human Rights Standards, including the right to freedom of expression." Boucher added, however, that the decision by Khamenei would not affect the measures the U.S. has taken recently to improve relations with the people of Iran.

The developments in Iran come at a sensitive time. President Mohammad Khatami, who represents the reformists, just declared his intention to run for executive office again in 2001. State broadcast media is heavily biased against the reformists, as are most of the remaining high-circulation publications. Without unfettered access to friendly media, Khatami will have an uphill battle.

Furthermore, Khatami's habitually subdued reaction to press closures and other restrictions may become harmful to him now. "Bahar" noted on 5 August that "Khatami's silence in the face of restrictions imposed on the press is an indication of his protest to the status quo." The now-banned daily also said that Khatami is "hailed as a champion of press freedom and indeed as a staunch defender of freedom."

On 8 August, after returning from a trip to Kurdistan Province, Khatami mentioned the importance of a healthy press in serving as a watchdog over the state. But it was Iran's Journalist Day, so he had to say something. The question now is: who will carry his and the reformists' views? And if he will not defend the vestiges of a free press, who will defend him, his programs, and his electoral platform? (Bill Samii)