Conservatives censor reformist press on the eve of their parliamentary "coup"

Reporters Without Borders today demanded the immediate reopening of two leading reformist dailies that were closed down yesterday and reiterated its condemnation of the efforts of the Tehran prosecutor's office and judge Said Mortazavi in particular to silence the reformist press and deprive Iranians of major news sources on the eve of legislative elections. The two newspapers, Sharq and Yas-e no, were shut down yesterday evening, immediately after being raided by officials from the Tehran prosecutor's office. The closures came a day after they published extracts of a letter from reformist parliamentarians to the Supreme Guide of the Islamic Republic, Ali Khamenei, thereby defying an order issued the same day by national security council director Hassan Rouhani banning its publication. The letter blaming Khamenei for the electoral "coup d'état" and the current political crisis. The censorship measures will prevent the reformist media from commenting on the elections, for which the authorities have rejected any presence of international observers. Yesterday, 113 journalists working for the reformist press said in a joint statement that they would not vote in the elections, which they considered "neither free nor legal." A total of 11 journalists are currently detained in Iran, which makes it the biggest prison for journalists in the Middle East