Iran’s most prominent reformist newspaper has been closed down for failing to remove an executive accused of publishing blasphemous articles and insulting officials.
The country’s press supervisory board, run by the culture ministry, ordered the closure of the Persian daily paper Sharq on Monday after it failed to replace managing director Muhammad Rahmanian.
The board said the paper had been given one month to replace him, but after the deadline ran out on Sunday he remained at the helm.
”Because of 70 cases of violations, including insulting officials, religious and national figures, publishing blasphemous articles and also articles creating discord … the board demanded the replacement,” the board said in a statement, according to Reuters.
The international press freedom watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists, condemned the move.
”There can be no press freedom in a country in which government agencies hire and fire editors,” said the CPJ executive director, Joel Simon.
The newspaper angered authorities by criticising the rulings of the supreme national security council, which is in charge of Iran’s nuclear negotiations with the West.
A cartoon it published last week was seen as another example of the paper’s attempts to undermine the council, Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, spokesperson for the Iranian Committee for the Defense of Freedom of the Press, told the CPJ.
Shamsolvaezin said Sharq had come under pressure from the judiciary because of its editorial line and its closure was a clear message intended to silence critics and other reformist papers.
Reuters reported that Rahmanian asked on Sunday for a two-month extension to find a successor and intends to appeal against the order. But Shamsolvaezin said the ban appeared to be permanent.
Another Iranian newspaper has also been closed down — political monthly Nameh has also been shut for blasphemy and insulting religious figures.
The paper’s editor, Majid Tavallaei, said it was closed for publishing a poem by dissident female poet Simin Behbahani, according to an Associated Press report.
”The closure of these two publications is further evidence of the Iranian authorities’ determination to silence dissenting voices and stifle media freedom,” said CPJ’s Simon. ”We call upon the authorities to rescind the closure orders.”
Meanwhile, the authorities lifted a ban on the state paper, Iran, which will publish under a new team of managers and journalists and with a new design. The paper had been banned on May 23 after publishing a cartoon that sparked riots by Azeris in the north-western city of Tabriz.
According to the CPJ, Iranian courts have closed more than 100 publications since 2000, most of which were reformist. Last month the Iranian government urged the judiciary to clamp down on dailies that spread ”lies”. – Guardian Unlimited Â