Iran parliament makes writers liable
By ANWAR FARUQI
Associated Press Writer
July 7, 1999, DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Authorities shut down
a leading moderate newspaper on Wednesday, hours after hard-liners pushed
a bill through Iran's parliament aimed at curbing the country's increasingly
bold media.
The outspoken Salam daily, a staunch backer of the reformist President
Mohammad Khatami, was closed on orders of the hard-line judiciary, the
official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
Action against the paper was widely expected after it published details
of an alleged Intelligence Ministry plot to muzzle the press.
Earlier Wednesday, Iranian hard-liners pushed a bill through Parliament
that makes writers, not publishers, liable for what they write.
The new legislation is a major setback to moderate allies of Khatami,
whose efforts to open up Iranian society have been overwhelmingly backed
by the majority of Iranian newspapers.
For months, hard-liners locked in a power struggle with Khatami's faction
have been trying to undermine his support by closing newspapers, arresting
journalists and refusing to prosecute vigilantes who attack moderate newspapers
and journalists.
The legislation was approved by 125 of the 215 deputies present in the
Majlis, or Parliament.
The hard-line speaker, Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri, took the unusual step
of calling for an open ballot, which forced more independent deputies to
vote for the bill.
The number of negative votes and abstentions was not known. In the
run-up to the vote, Nateq-Nouri urged deputies to approve the bill now
and debate its details later.
``We all feel the danger, don't we? Let's lock the doors to the enemy
and vote for the bill. Then we can among ourselves and debate the details,''
he told the Majlis.
Culture Minister Ataollah Mohajerani warned of the chilling effect of
making reporters directly subject to the courts.
``We should not do something to create fear in the minds of writers,''
Mohajerani said in a radio broadcast monitored in Dubai.
In April, the hard-liners suffered a major defeat when they failed to
impeach Mohajerani, whose ministry controls the media.
Links
