Iranian authorities step up media censorship

Reporters Without Borders condemns a surge in cases of harassment of journalists and print media by the Iranian authorities in the past few days, including the conservative weekly 9 Day’s closure, the fining of the reformist monthly Mehrnameh and judicial system spokesman Golamhossien Mohsseni Ejehi’s open threats against all the media. Ejehi warned the media at a news conference on 16 February that they could be banned or fined if they published any information about “the individuals designated as ‘heads of sedition’ by the High Council for National Security and Justice.” He was alluding to former reformist President Mohammad Khatami, former prime minister and presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi (owner of the now closed newspaper Kalameh Sabaz), best-selling author Zahra Rahnavard (Mousavi’s wife), and former parliamentary speaker and presidential candidate Mehdi Karoubi (owner of the now closed newspaper Etemad Melli). The authorities designated Mousavi, Rahnavard and Karoubi as “heads of sedition” ten days after their arrest on 14 February 2011. They have been held under house arrest, illegally and without trial, and denied all rights ever since. It was the fourth anniversary of their arrest four days ago. Reporters Without Borders has learned that a Tehran prosecutor already summoned newspaper editors to a meeting a few weeks ago in order to remind them of this ban’s existence. “This is not the first time that senior judicial officials and entities such as the High Council for National Security, the Tehran prosecutor, the prosecutor general, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and the Supreme Leader’s office have intervened to impose censorship,” said Reza Moini of Reporters Without Borders. “By making this threat publicly, the judicial system’s spokesmen – an official implicated in murders of Iranian journalists and intellectuals such as Pirouz Davani – has underlined the precarious state of freedom of information in a country that is ranked 173rd in the Reporters Without Borders index.” Read: Reporters Without Borders launches an international campaign called #FightImpunity 9 Day, the weekly that has been closed for the second time in less than a year by the Press Authorization and Surveillance Commission, is one of the main media mouthpieces of a radical conservative group linked to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that is critical of the current administration headed by moderate conservative President Hassan Rouhani. It was closed on 16 February for criticizing the government’s nuclear policies and for indirectly insulting the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Islamic Republic’s founder. The offending articles criticized foreign minister Javad Zarif, who is leading Iran’s nuclear negotiations with western countries, and Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president who was close to Ayatollah Khomeini. The weekly was previously suspended on 17 March 2014 on charges of “insult and defamation” and “publishing false information” under articles 6 and 12 of the press code after criticizing the nuclear negotiations. It was given permission to resume publishing in May. The day after the latest closure, 9 Day editor Hamid Rassaye, a radical conservative parliamentary representative who is close to the Revolutionary Guards, claimed at a news conference that the Washington Post’s jailed Iran correspondent, Jason Rezaian, had made a “videoed confession.” Agence France-Presse quoted him as saying: “American officials say Rezaian has been held for 200 days without trial, but if Iranian radio and TV were to broadcast his confession and if the Americans heard his confession and learned about his spying against our country (...) they would understand the reasons for his presence in Iran.” Reza Moini of Reporters Without Borders added: “Westerners, especially journalists, have for years often been the victims of the security paranoia of government leaders or have been used as bargaining chips in diplomatic negotiations, with the international community’s silent complicity. Rezaian committed no crime. He is the victim of the feuding between rival government factions and the tension between Tehran and the international community.” Read: Detained journalist is victim of US-Iran negotiations A Tehran court sentenced Forozandeh Adibi, the editor of the reformist monthly Mehrnameh, on 15 February to a fine of 3 million toman and a two-year ban on working as a journalist Her lawyer, Mahmoud Alizadeh-Tabatabaie, said the monthly was being punished for publishing articles by members of the “deviationist” group (a term used for those who have “deviated” from the Islamic Revolution’s established line) in several of its issues. She was initially sentenced to a year in prison but the judge changed this to a fine. Iran is ranked 173rd out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.