Resumption of Press Crackdowns
The suspension of Asia daily and Baran Nour (Rain Light) biweekly by the order of the ultra-hardline new agency overseeing the Iranian press has deeply disturbed the local media. The newspaper was closed last week on charges of printing photographs of the founder of the German Burda clothing journal.
The press has once again been coming under pressure from officials of the Ministry of Guidance whose agents have called journalists and editors of newspapers asking them or threatening them to stay in line with official policies. These threats and meddlings have been protested by the professional guilds and human rights groups in Iran.
In recent years, the conservative judiciary had shut down tens of publications and the suspension of Asia is perhaps a sign of the return to those pre-reform days. In 1997, the election of reform-minded Mohammad Khatami as president helped Iran’s press experience a short-lived flourishing period of freedom that was later reversed through the harsh crackdowns by the judiciary. When Hossein Saffar Harandi, a former editor-in-chief of Kayhan newspaper was appointed the new Minister of Culture, observers had warned that knowing his views on the press, a crackdown would almost certainly follow. Four months to that day, the first closures attest to those predictions.
Before 1997, press supervision was in the hands of the Press Monitoring Board, which used its powers to shut down many publications. Then the judiciary took the initiative of revoking publication licences and shutting down newspapers. Now, the duty seems to have fallen back onto the Ministry of Culture.
Heyate Nezarate Bar Matbuat or the Press Monitoring Board at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance is officially responsible for issuing operational licenses or permits for newspapers. The Board is made up of a judge appointed by the head of the judiciary, the Minister of Culture or his representative, a managing media editor selected by the media, a university professor appointed by the Minister of Higher Education, a religious teacher appointed by the Qom Theological School, and a member of the Cultural Revolution Council. The Minister of Culture chairs the board.
The supervisory board is considered one of the main tools of press crackdown in Iran. Even though it enjoyed less power and influence during Khatami’s moderate government,
it was behind the mass closures of publications during the same period, thanks to the militant press judge and with the help of the hardline judiciary. During Khatami’s 8-year presidency that is considered moderate and where open and intense battles raged between moderates and hardline conservatives, each invalidated and challenged the efforts of the other camp to curtail its goals. More than a 100 publications were shut during the period and more than 1337 journalists were prosecuted, many seeing prison terms.
The recent press crackdown, conducted by the government and not the judiciary, is proof that Ahmadinejad’s hardline government has not toleration for a critical press.
The closure of Asia has once again brought on the controversy as to who can shut down a publication, the Press Monitoring Board or the Judiciary.
A senior lawyer told Rooz that the Board has no legal jurisdiction to suspend publications, adding that all it can do is to refer what it considers to be violations on the part of a publication to a court of law, in which it may request the revocation or suspension of a license. Nemat Ahmadi, the lawyer for some of the suspended publications actually goes even further and argues that Iran’s press law is against the constitution and that the suspension of newspapers is an illegal punishment. Tehran judiciary deputy, on the other hand, contends that the country’s constitution allows the judiciary to prevent violations of the press on its own initiative. Reza Jaafari says: “The law allows government agencies to punish perpetrators in order to prevent violations, even though these reprimands are different from what the judiciary can exercise.”
These days there is now even talk of creating a board to oversee the work of news agencies, which is most likely going to be used, or misused, in the similar fashion that the current Press Monitoring Board has been dealt with.
The press has once again been coming under pressure from officials of the Ministry of Guidance whose agents have called journalists and editors of newspapers asking them or threatening them to stay in line with official policies. These threats and meddlings have been protested by the professional guilds and human rights groups in Iran.
In recent years, the conservative judiciary had shut down tens of publications and the suspension of Asia is perhaps a sign of the return to those pre-reform days. In 1997, the election of reform-minded Mohammad Khatami as president helped Iran’s press experience a short-lived flourishing period of freedom that was later reversed through the harsh crackdowns by the judiciary. When Hossein Saffar Harandi, a former editor-in-chief of Kayhan newspaper was appointed the new Minister of Culture, observers had warned that knowing his views on the press, a crackdown would almost certainly follow. Four months to that day, the first closures attest to those predictions.
Before 1997, press supervision was in the hands of the Press Monitoring Board, which used its powers to shut down many publications. Then the judiciary took the initiative of revoking publication licences and shutting down newspapers. Now, the duty seems to have fallen back onto the Ministry of Culture.
Heyate Nezarate Bar Matbuat or the Press Monitoring Board at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance is officially responsible for issuing operational licenses or permits for newspapers. The Board is made up of a judge appointed by the head of the judiciary, the Minister of Culture or his representative, a managing media editor selected by the media, a university professor appointed by the Minister of Higher Education, a religious teacher appointed by the Qom Theological School, and a member of the Cultural Revolution Council. The Minister of Culture chairs the board.
The supervisory board is considered one of the main tools of press crackdown in Iran. Even though it enjoyed less power and influence during Khatami’s moderate government,
it was behind the mass closures of publications during the same period, thanks to the militant press judge and with the help of the hardline judiciary. During Khatami’s 8-year presidency that is considered moderate and where open and intense battles raged between moderates and hardline conservatives, each invalidated and challenged the efforts of the other camp to curtail its goals. More than a 100 publications were shut during the period and more than 1337 journalists were prosecuted, many seeing prison terms.
The recent press crackdown, conducted by the government and not the judiciary, is proof that Ahmadinejad’s hardline government has not toleration for a critical press.
The closure of Asia has once again brought on the controversy as to who can shut down a publication, the Press Monitoring Board or the Judiciary.
A senior lawyer told Rooz that the Board has no legal jurisdiction to suspend publications, adding that all it can do is to refer what it considers to be violations on the part of a publication to a court of law, in which it may request the revocation or suspension of a license. Nemat Ahmadi, the lawyer for some of the suspended publications actually goes even further and argues that Iran’s press law is against the constitution and that the suspension of newspapers is an illegal punishment. Tehran judiciary deputy, on the other hand, contends that the country’s constitution allows the judiciary to prevent violations of the press on its own initiative. Reza Jaafari says: “The law allows government agencies to punish perpetrators in order to prevent violations, even though these reprimands are different from what the judiciary can exercise.”
These days there is now even talk of creating a board to oversee the work of news agencies, which is most likely going to be used, or misused, in the similar fashion that the current Press Monitoring Board has been dealt with.
posted by shahram @ 8:07 PM
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