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THE HAZARDS OF IRANIAN JOURNALISM

Iran commemorated Journalists Day on 8 August, which is the anniversary of the 1998 killing of an IRNA correspondent by Taliban forces at Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan (see below).

RFE/RL- Meanwhile, Minister of Islamic Culture and Guidance Hojatoleslam Ahmad Masjid-Jamei wrote to Labor and Social Affairs Minister Safdar Husseini, urging President Khatami to designate journalism as a "difficult and hazardous job," "Iran Daily" reported on 5 August. Masjid-Jamei noted that the sensitivity of the profession "mentally and physically inconveniences journalists."

Press closures and frequent court appearances might be considered an inconvenience or a hazard, too -- even the official news agency is facing legal harassment. At a ceremony in Kurdistan Province to mark Journalist's Day, Mehrnush Jafari, director-general of the Islamic Culture and Guidance Ministry's Domestic Press Department, said that 85 publications have been banned since March 1998, "Entekhab" reported on 11 August.

A Tehran court on 8 August ordered the closure of the daily "Aineh-yi Jonub," which had hit the newsstands just one week earlier, for publishing articles that are "contrary to the law," IRNA reported. It also banned "Ruz-i No," which was to begin publication next week.

Judge Said Mortazavi explained: "According to statements published in the press, which have explicitly cited 'Ruz-I No' as a replacement for 'Noruz'...and given the similarity between the two in name and logo, the publication of 'Ruz-i No' is considered as contradicting the press law until the six-month suspension of the daily 'Noruz' expires," according to IRNA. A complaint has been lodged against the "Ruz-i No" managing editor, Tehran parliamentarian Mohammad Naimipur. Journalist Hashem Aghajari, who recently stirred up a hornet's nest after questioning the religious hierarchy (see "RFE/RL Iran Report," 1 July 2002), was detained in Hamedan after coming to the court to be interrogated, IRNA reported on 8 August. He was previously subpoenaed for violating religious sanctities (see "RFE/RL Iran Report," 8 July 2002). Aghajari's hearing is scheduled for 31 August. The Mujahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization, of which Aghajari is a member, protested the arrest in a 10 August communique that it cabled to IRNA.

The Press Court on 5 August found "Guzarish-i Ruz" managing director Ali Mohammad Mahdavi-Khorrami guilty on charges brought against him by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, the Law Enforcement Forces' intelligence office, the prosecutor-general and Abdolhamid Mohtasham, the managing director of the hard-line weekly "Yalisarat al-Hussein," according to IRNA. The court decided against leniency because Mahdavi-Khorrami has a record of press offenses and absence from court sessions. His sentence has not yet been announced. An arrest warrant was issued for journalist Masud Behnud, who in February 2001 was sentenced to 19 months in jail, "Iran" newspaper reported on 5 August. Behnud is out of the country, and Mehrabad Airport officials have been instructed to keep an eye out for him.

A Tehran court summoned "Aftab-i Yazd" managing editor Mansur Mozaffari to appear by 6 August, IRNA reported on 4 August. He faces 36 complaints from the state prosecutor and the State Inspectorate. The Revolutionary Court on 7 August said that it had the right to take legal action against the government's Islamic Republic News Agency, for reporting on the Freedom Movement's (Nehzat-i Azadi) rejection of its dissolution (see "RFE/RL Iran Report," 5 August 2002). The court asked why IRNA does not relay statements from "other counterrevolutionary groups." IRNA responded on 7 August that Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) aired the same dispatch, and went on to say that IRNA had the right to transmit the news so that the nation and foreigners would not have to rely on foreign media.

"Hambastegi" deputy editor Rahmanqoli Qolizadeh notes that the press is being asked to promote national reconciliation because Iran is threatened with invasion, "Hambastegi" reported on 31 July. In the report, Qolizadeh asks, "Is there anything left of the press that it can play this role," noting that the public no longer trusts the press. According to Qolizadeh, if the press is allowed to function, it would be "very formal and artificial" and would not be accepted "either by our people at home or by others abroad."

AND WILL DISCUSS MURDERED JOURNALIST, OFFICIALS

Iranian government spokesman Abdullah Ramezanzadeh on 7 August said that one of the topics of discussion during President Khatami's visit to Kabul would be the case of the Iranian government officials and an IRNA reporter who were killed by the Taliban in Mazar-i-Sharif in August 1998, according to IRNA.

Taliban commander Mullah Wali, who is suspected of being responsible for the murders, was detained in Herat in early December, an anonymous "informed source" told IRNA on 27 December 2001. The source told IRNA at the time that Mullah Wali was being held at a prison in western Herat. If Mullah Wali is indeed in custody, it is odd that Herat's Governor Ismail Khan, who is close to the Iranian government, has not made this suspect available to the Iranians.

Tehran claims that the officials were diplomats, but many observers believe that they actually were intelligence officers. The brother of Mohammad Saremi, the IRNA reporter who was murdered in Mazar-i-Sharif, told RFE/RL's Persian Service that the Iranian government does not seem very interested in solving the case, and he speculated that the government does not want the case to be examined too closely because of what might be revealed about the Iranian officials. Saremi compared his brother's case to that of "The Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Pearl, who was murdered in Pakistan. Saremi pointed out that the U.S. authorities made every effort to bring the culprits to justice. Saremi's brother said that his family wrote a letter to Afghan President Karzai, and Saremi even handed a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan when he visited Tehran, but still there have been no results. Iran's minister of Islamic culture and guidance, Hojatoleslam Ahmad Masjid-Jamei, sent a letter to Afghanistan's Minister of Information and Culture Raheen Makhdoom asking that the killers be identified and punished, Mashhad radio's Dari-language service reported on 4 August. On the anniversary of the killings - 7 August -- Makhdoom said: "This tragic incident took place at a time when the holy city of Mazar-i-Sharif was captured by the forces of evil. The martyrdom of the diplomats and the innocent Iranian journalist was against all Islamic and human norms," Kabul's Radio Afghanistan reported. (Bill Samii)