Iranian
Press Update
Ramim
Karimian and Sha'banali Bahrampour
| 
A
cartoon which appeared in the newspaper Zan, banned
by the Iranian government in April 1999. |
The press has
played a crucial role in advancing Iran's emerging reformist agenda.
Following the initial wave of attacks on the reformist press, which
culminated in the closure of Jame'eh and Tous in the
summer of 1998, a second crop of independent dailies appeared in
late 1998. These papers exposed Intelligence Ministry agents' involvement
in the political assassinations of reformist intellectuals and activists
in late 1998.Finding themselves on the defensive, Iran's conservatives
tried to undercut the reformist press by reactivating the Press
Court. Sai'id Mortazavi, the young presiding judge of the Press
Court, is the nephew of Ayatollah Yazdi, until recently head of
Iran's Judiciary. Mortazavi suspended five members of the Court's
jury after they objected to his rulings against the jury's vote.
The newspaper Zan ("Woman") was ordered closed by the Revolution
Court (Dadgah-e Enqelab) in April 1999 after publishing the
former empress' New Year's greeting, despite the fact that the law
permits only the Press Court to shut down a newspaper.
Prominent conservative
political figures, among them parliamentarians, Friday prayer leaders,
heads of the Judiciary and the Revolutionary Guards, openly accused
the independent press of plotting against Islam and the Revolution.
The Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance was impeached by 31
conservative parliamentary deputies on the grounds that he had been
too permissive with the press.
Conservatives
continued their offensive against reformist newspapers with a barrage
of lawsuits. Mortazavi began hauling newspaper directors before
the Press Court where, in the absence of a functioning jury, he
imposed stiff fines upon them. Several directors, including the
head of the national news organization (IRNA), went to jail when
they could not post the staggering bail fees. They were later released
when the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance posted their bail.
In June 1999,
Iran's parliament proposed new legislation that would clamp down
even further on the press. Ignoring constitutional clauses about
press rights and freedom, this legislation will institute a stricter
degree of legal censorship. It places the press under the jurisdiction
not of the Press Court, but of the Revolution Court (which judges
political as well as criminal cases), and the Special Court of the
Clergy (Dadgah-e Vijeh Rowhaniat). Under the new law, journalists
and publishers will be required to reveal their sources. Responsibility
for published material will extend beyond the publisher to include
photographers, editors and journalists. The legislation will also
expand the current composition of the "Commission for the Supervision
of the Press" and the appointed jury of the Press Court by including
representatives of conservative institutions, thus diluting reformists'
control of these key institutions.
Jurists, journalists
and professors, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Culture
and Islamic Guidance expressed profound concerns about the inherent
dangers of the proposed restrictions. Yet despite these objections,
the parliament passed the legislation on July 7, 1999. Of the 270
parliamentarians, 55 were absent and only 125 (less than half) voted
in favor of the new law.
On the eve
of the vote, the reformist newspaper Salam published an incendiary
letter revealing that the new legislation was the brainchild of
Sai'id Emami, the former Intelligence vice-minister who was a key
figure in the 1998 assassinations of several intellectuals and opposition
figures, and who allegedly committed suicide while in official custody.
Two days later
Salam became the next victim of press repression. Accused
of publishing an official secret letter, the newspaper was closed.
The next evening,
Tehran University students held a demonstration in support of Salam
and against the new press law. The students were attacked, and security
forces and paramilitary gangs ransacked their dormitories. Central
Tehran was quickly engulfed by a week of unrest and street violence.
On July 20,
several conservative newspapers published a confidential, harshly
worded letter to President Khatami from 24 high commanders of the
Revolutionary Guards objecting to the government's handling of the
recent unrest and warning that "the Guards' patience has its limits."
Despite the letter's "top secret" classification, the Press Court
took no action against the conservative papers comparable to its
actions against Salam. In fact, the managing editor of the
conservative Jomhuri-e Islami, which published the Revolutionary
Guards' letter, was appointed to the jury for the trial of the managing
editor of Salam, Ayatollah Mousavi Khoeiniha. The rest of
the jury, composed of prominent conservative clerics, found Salam
guilty of slander and publishing state secrets. Salam was
ordered shut for five years, and Khoeiniha is prevented from
all press-related activity for three years.
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