Iran's pro-reform press warns crackdown could spark
more unrest
TEHRAN, July 22 (AFP) - Iran's pro-reform press on Thursday demanded
the immediate release of a jailed newspaper editor and warned the growing
conservative crackdown on journalists could lead to more unrest.
Newspapers that support reformist President Mohammad Khatami blasted
the regime's conservatives over Tuesday's arrest of Kazem Shokri, a senior
editor with Sobh-e-Emrouz, a moderate daily close to the president.
"If those who are continuously harassing newspapers think threats
and arrests can stand in the way of journalists dedicated to revealing
the truth, they should know their efforts are doomed to fail," the
Iran paper said.
"We demand the unconditional release of Shokri and an official
apology to the press. We journalists write to safeguard our independence
and freedom and we will never stop," it said.
The popular daily Hamshahri said the arrest of Shokri, the latest victim
of the tightening clampdown, had set off "deep anger" in the
newspaper community.
"The move takes place at a time when the country is in need of
calm," it said, referring to the bloody violence that shook Tehran
last week when students took to the streets after hardliners closed down
the Salam paper.
It warned Shokri's detention "could unleash a new wave of tension
and unrest" and repeated threats of a press strike, a move that would
surely increase public anger at the regime's conservatives.
Shokri was jailed on charges he had published an article "offensive
to the Koran," a move that sent a chill through the press community
here as newspaper chiefs have traditionally been the only officials liable
for violations of the press code.
Sobh-e-Emrouz director Saeed Hajarian at first said he had been questioned
about the incident and denied being aware of the article, but later reportedly
issued a statement accepting responsibility for his paper's contents.
On the same day that Salam was closed down, Iran's conservative-dominated
parliament passed draft legislation that would hold editors and writers
responsible for breaches of the press code as well as newspaper directors.
The bill must still be debated in parliament before becoming law and
Iran's culture ministry, directed by a close Khatami ally, said Wednesday
that Shokri's arrest was a "violation" of the current law.
Salam's director Ayatollah Mohammad Khoeinia insisted the closure of
his paper had also been illegal.
"There was no legal right to shut down Salam. The decision was
a mistake and against the national interest," Khoeinia told Salam
employees, according to reports Thursday.
"I feel that they had already made up their minds and were just
looking for an excuse to close the paper," he told his staff at a
meeting Wednesday.
The order came after Salam published extracts of a letter from a disgraced
intelligence officer blamed for the murders of several leading dissidents
and writers last year. In the letter to intelligence ministry superiors,
the officer called for the same kinds of tough press restrictions in parliament's
draft legislation.
The ministry complained that the letter was "top secret" and
that Salam had deleted parts of it in an effort to "stir up public
opinion."
Conservative MPs accused Khoeinia of indirectly trying to discredit
them by publishing the letter from the disgraced officer just as parliament
was considering the new press curbs.
"We did not want to say it indirectly," Khoeinia told his
staff. "We wanted to shout it out loud."
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