Journalist stands trial for insulting late Iranian leader

TEHRAN, Aug 3 (AFP) - The director of an Iranian weekly stood trial on Monday, accused of "insulting" the late founder of the Islamic republic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the official IRNA news agency reported.

But Mohammad-Reza Zaeri, director of Khaneh (Home) magazine, said the charges arose from a "misunderstanding."

"This is a misunderstanding and I ask for pardon because I never intended to insult our Imam," he told the court in a reference to the late Iranian leader.

Zaeri, himself a conservative cleric, is also accused of "offending" Islam and the Shiite Moslem clergy and of publishing pictures contrary to norms of public decency in Iran.

"We are ourselves the guardians of the fundamentals of the (1979) Islamic revolution. It's all a misunderstanding which has led to this campaign," he added.

Zaeri, who was briefly arrested last week, was also charged with authorizing publication in his magazine of a photograph of an unveiled woman playing football.

Earlier in the month the weekly published extracts from a letter which purported to be from a reader saying he had no interest in learning about Khomeini, because he was only 12 at the time of his death in 1989.

"You are going to oblige me to obey someone who has condemned Salman Rushdie to death and turned Iran into an international terrorist," the letter said.

Khomeini issued a fatwa, or death sentence, against the British novelist for his book, the "Satanic Verses," which many Moslems consider blasphemous.

"The imam's name reminds me of the terrifying sound of bombs and the blood of thousands of young people," the letter added in a reference to the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

The letter sparked outrage among radical fundamentalists and Khaneh's offices were firebombed by unknown attackers several days later.

But Zaeri said the column in the weekly was aimed at "answering questions from the young."

The magazine also allegedly referred to some Islamic teachings as "superstitious," charges denied by the cleric.

The court was due to issue a verdict later in the afternoon.

Under the new Iranian penal code based on sharia or Islamic law that was introduced in 1996, offending Islam or insulting Ayatollah Khomeini or his successor as supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, is punishable by up to two years in jail.

Some 4,000 demonstrators attending weekly prayers in the holy city of Qom called Friday for a "swift judgment" in Zaeri's case.

They also called for the resignation of moderate Culture Minister Ataollah Mohajerani, who advocates freedom of the press.

Related links

* Iran News
* Complete list of Iranian online media
* Cover stories
* Who's who

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