September 30
* One-act play sparks cultural drama
TEHRAN, Sept. 29, (Washington Post) -It was a one-act satirical play
that never made it to the stage, but it was printed in an obscure university
publication and distributed in photocopies. But because of it, the writer
is in custody, the culture minister is under fire, conservative newspapers
are incensed and President Mohammed Khatemi's policy of freedom of expression
is taking a beating ... FULL
TEXT
September 29
* Khatami says rivals working against freedom
TEHRAN, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Iranian President Mohammad Khatami lashed
out on Wednesday against Islamic extremists, accusing them of seeking to
limit freedom and keep society in the dark. Khatami also condemned what
he called efforts by ``foreign-inspired enemies'' to strip Iranian universities
of their religious identity ... FULL
TEXT
September 28
* Rally demands death for Iran's student playwrights
TEHRAN, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Angry demonstrators rallied in central Tehran
on Tuesday to demand death for two student playwrights whose lampoon of
campus conservatives has been condemned as an unforgivable insult to Islam
and touched off a national crisis. Shopkeepers in the holy Shiite city
of Qom, meanwhile, closed the central bazaar, a traditional form of protest
with a long tradition in Iranian history, following a symbolic shutdown
in Tehran on Monday ... FULL
TEXT
September 27
* Fuss fest
Conservatives are up in arms over an "anti-Islamic" play
News
report on alleged insults to Imam Mahdi in a play published in a student
magazine. Plus responses in Persian from: * Khatami
* Mohajerani
* Nateq
Nuri * Majlis
members * Ayatollahs
* Jannati
* Safaie-far
* Student play sets off crisis
TEHRAN, Sept 27 (Reuters) - A satirical play in a little-known campus
journal has sent shock waves through Iran, threatening President Mohammad
Khatami's reform drive and exposing deep rifts in the ranks of ruling clerics.
The sketch, which invoked one of the holiest figures in Shi'ite Islam to
lampoon campus conservatives, has been universally condemned by clerics,
ministers, MPs and judges as an unforgivable insult to Islamic sanctities
... FULL
TEXT
* Khatami sees 'calculated' plot in new crisis
TEHRAN, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Iranian President Mohammad Khatami deplored
a satirical student play for insulting Islamic sanctities, but warned the
incident was being exploited as part of a ``calculated design'' to incite
the nation. In remarks to his cabinet late on Sunday, the president condemned
the play, which first appeared last month in a campus journal with a circulation
of less than 200, as an insult to pious believers ... FULL
TEXT
September 26
* Liberal Iran publisher says court verdict biased
TEHRAN, Sept 26 (Reuters) - The publisher of a pro-reform Iranian newspaper,
sentenced to jail on a blasphemy conviction, sharply attacked the verdict
on Sunday as politically motivated and demanded a new, impartial hearing.
(Related photo) ``The court was biased and influenced by a certain political
faction. Their approach was more political than legal, and marked by double
standards,'' Latif Safari, the director of the banned Neshat daily, told
a news conference ... FULL
TEXT
* Newspapers help reformers
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - The newspapers hawked each morning at every street
corner are the most immediate challenge to Iran's hard-liners, boldly redefining
the limits of free speech and public debate. Since moderate President Mohammad
Khatami took office in August 1997, the first cautious pro-reform writings
have matured into a barrage of critique and comment. Once-unimaginable
subjects, such as alleged corruption and questions about Islam's role in
politics, are picked apart by a swelling number of newspapers ... FULL TEXT
September 22
* Conservatives tighten proposed press law
TEHRAN (Reuters) - A conservative parliamentary committee has proposed
new restrictions on Iran's press, a main battleground between reformers
around President Mohammad Khatami and hard-line rivals, newspapers reported
Wednesday ... FULL
TEXT
* Britain to continue Rushdie protection despite renewed Iran ties
LONDON, Sept 22 (AFP) - Britain said Wednesday it would continue its
protection of author Salman Rushdie -- condemnmed to death a decade ago
in a fatwa from Iran's then spiritual leader -- despite improved diplomatic
links with Tehran ... FULL
TEXT
September 20
* Reformist Iranian daily answers anti-Islam charges
TEHRAN, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Iran's leading pro-reform newspaper, already
under suspension, went on trial on Monday on charges of insulting Islamic
values and spreading propaganda against the state ``Jail me for five years,
but abide by the law,'' publisher Latif Safari told the court ... FULL TEXT
September 13
* Iran's reformers decry secret death sentences
TEHRAN, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Pro-reform newspapers in Iran voiced dismay
on Monday that a Revolutionary Court had met in secret to sentence four
people to death for their role in July's pro-democracy unrest. Several
dailies accused the conservative court of mishandling the case for political
ends ... FULL
TEXT
* Head of banned Iranian paper to stand trial next week
TEHRAN, Sept 13 (AFP) - The trial of the director of Iran's Neshat newspaper,
banned for publishing "anti-Islamic" articles, will begin in
the press court next week, justice officials said Monday. Latif Safari
will appear next Monday to answer 73 charges in a public trial in the presence
of a jury, Iran's justice department said in a statement carried by the
official IRNA news agency ... FULL
TEXT
September 9
* Neshat: The beat goes on
The moderate Neshat newspaper is back on Iran's newsstands, but
under a new name after it was banned just a few days ago. It is now called
Akhbar Eghtesad (Economic News), with an emphasis on economic news.
But it still carries a good amount of political commentary, as well as
the stinging satire of Ebrahim Nabavi. Here are two columns from the first
issue explaining the paper's goals (in Persian):
-- Reza Jalaie-Pour ... Civil
society & the economy
-- Ahmad Safaie-Far ... Words
on our first day
September 9
* Reformist Iranian editors produce new daily
TEHRAN, Sept 9 (Reuters) - A team of maverick reformist editors on Thursday
brought out a new pro-reform newspaper, their fifth in less than two years,
after hardliners closed their latest popular daily ... FULL
TEXT
September 9
* Neshat director summoned
TEHRAN, Sept 9 (AFP) - Iran's conservative-controlled press court has
summoned the director of a pro-reform daily, banned this week on charges
of publishing "anti-Islamic" articles, press reports said Thursday
... FULL
TEXT
September 6
* Neshat banned, editors vows new daily
TEHRAN, Sept 6 (AFP) - The editors of a pro-reform Iranian daily closed
by the conservative courts denounced the ban Monday as a political ploy
to silence Iran's reform movement and vowed to start another paper immediately.
Editors from Neshat said Sunday's "illegal" closure, the fourth
time a leading pro-reform paper has been shut down this year, was purposely
engineered by conservatives ahead of February's key parliamentary elections
... FULL
TEXT
September 5
* Pressures of the press
The New York Times
Sunday September 5, 199
As editor of China's leading English-language newspaper, Jonathan
Fenby developed a reputation for independent reporting and frank debate.
Last month he was fired. Hamid Reza Jalaipur founded Iran's first prodemocracy
newspaper. He was jailed last year for printing an editorial critical of
the Government. Herewith, the two discuss what it's like to put out a newspaper
where the press is not free ... FULL
TEXT
September 4
* Iranian editor vows to re-open women's paper
September 4, 1999 (The Canberra Times) - The editor of a banned Iranian
women's daily has told The Canberra Times she hopes to re-open her paper.
Faezeh Hashemi, licensee and editor-in chief of Zan (woman" in Farsi),
the first women's daily newspaper in her country, was in Canberra yesterday
to visit the Australian Institute of Sport and the Australian Sports Commission.
She also took a look at how an Australian daily newspaper operates ...
FULL TEXT
September 2
* Judiciary issues warning against moderate press
TEHRAN, Sep 2 (AFP) - Iran's conservative-dominated judiciary on Thursday
issued a warning against any attempts by the moderate press to breach the
pillars of the Islamic revolution. In a statement broadcast on radio, the
judiciary vigorously backed Wednesday's remarks by supreme leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei who said "apostate" journalists opposing the country's
eye-for-an-eye laws were liable to the death penalty ... FULL
TEXT
September 2
* Offending articles
The following are op-ed pieces (in Persian) against the death penalty
were published by Neshat newspaper. In an indirect reference, Ayatollah
Khamenei said those who question Islamic laws are punishable by death:
* Hossein
Baqerzadeh: "Is state violence permissable?" (Persian)
* Emadedin
Baqi: "Execution and Islamic retribution (qesas)" (Persian)
* Neshat's
explanation for publishing the opinion pieces (Persian)
* Khamenei's
warning (English)
Audio
* BBC Persian service feature on the contrversy, including:
- Sadeq Saba's analysis
- Interview with human rights activist Hossein Baqerzadeh
LISTEN HERE (RealAudio)
