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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)
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