Iranian reformist newspaper director released on bail
TEHRAN, June 1 (AFP) - Mohammad Reza Zohdi, director of the Iranian
reformist newspaper Arya, was released on bail late Monday from Tehran's
Evin prison, the official IRNA news agency reported.
He had been held there since Saturday for defamation, spreading false
information, and publishing confidential military information.
Zohdi, detained following complaints lodged against him by the armed
forces, was freed on bail of 21 million rials (70,000 dollars at the official
rate), IRNA said.
One of his family members who deposited the bail "thanked the officials
of the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance for assistance in securing
his release," the agency said.
The conservative wing of the Iranian Islamic regime has been trying
to clamp down on media close to President Mohammad Khatami a year before
vital general elections, the reformist press said on Sunday.
IRNA director Fereydoun Verdinejad was himself detained for six hours
on Saturday.
A close associate of former president Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani and
an ally of his successor Khatami, Verdinejad faces some 30 complaints filed
against him by state-run television, members of the conservative-dominated
parliament and the police.
The moderate Iran News saw Verdinejad's detention as a way for his adversaries
to apply further pressure on Culture Minister Ataollah Mohajerani, who
has worked actively to open up the press, and who is ultimately responsible
for IRNA.
In a series of blows over recent months, Mohajerani has lost his vice-minister
in charge of press matters, Ahmad Bourghani, as well the top official responsible
for the local press, Issa Saharkhiz.
Saharkhiz appeared in court Sunday charged with disobeying a court order
by allowing a newspaper to publish a special supplement while under a suspension
order.
The moderate culture minister himself managed to escape an impeachment
motion against him in early May, but remains a target of daily criticism
by conservative circles who accuse his liberal politics of paving the way
for the "enemies of the revolution."
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