Internet censorship stepped up in anticipation of next year's presidential election

Internet censorship is being stepped up in preparation for next year's presidential election, Reporters Without Borders said today. Online journalist Massoud Heydari was given a three-month jail sentence two days ago for allegedly getting his facts wrong while, two days before that, the conservative news website Entekhab (www.tiknews.info) was blocked for the fifth time in two years. “Government censorship of the Iranian media has been increasing for some months and even the conservative media are being targeted,” the press freedom organisation said. “President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is tolerating criticism less and less in the run-up to the 2009 presidential election. We urge the authorities to restore access to Entekhab and to stop harassing outspoken journalists.” A Tehran court sentenced Heydari on 28 July to three months and one day in prison and a fine of 15 million rials (slightly more than 1,000 euros) for publishing “false information” in several articles on the website of the news agency ILNA which elicited complaints from the ministries of labour and health and Tehran's Amir Kabir University. A news agency that support's Iran's reformers, ILNA was created by Heydari in 2002. It has given a great deal of coverage to the crackdowns on women's movements, students and workers. Heydari resigned as its editor when it was banned by the authorities on 3 July 2007. Entekhab, the news website that was blocked yet again on 26 July, criticises President Ahmadinejad from a conservative position and is known to have strong support in conservative and religious circles. Its editor, Mostafa Faghihi, was summoned before a court last week and accused of publishing “false information” and “insulting what is sacred.” On 6 July, he published an article quoting Hojatoleslam Ali Akbar Mohtashami, a former interior minister and follower of Ayatollah Khomeiny, as saying there was no difference between the “sect” led by Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah (President Ahmadinejad's spiritual mentor) and the Taliban or “the ignorant ones of Islam's beginnings.” Faghihi said: “Whenever an article critical of Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah is published, it is filtered and no one will explain to us why.” Iran is ranked 166th out of 169 countries in the Reporters Without Borders world press freedom index and is on the organisation's list of “Internet Enemies.”