5 Iranian Pressmen Arrested for Role in Unrest
TEHRAN (July 20) XINHUA - Five persons working for moderate dailies
have been arrested on charge of involvement in recent unrest in Tehran.
An informed source said the five people are from Zan (women), Khordad
(name of the third Iranian month), Neshat (Joy), and Azad (Freedom), the
favorite dailies of the Iranian people, particularly of the youth, the
pro-conservative daily Tehran Times reported on Tuesday.
The interrogation is underway and the details about their role in the
recent unrest will be revealed in the near future, the source said.
Tehran Times also quoted another source as saying that Iran's Supreme
National Security Council headed by President Mohammad Khatami have formed
a six-member investigation committee to probe into the unrest.
The Iranian security and intelligence bodies have started a wide-range
search for those who have been involved in the recent unrest triggered
by student protests against restriction on the press and the closure of
moderate dailies.
The Iranian authorities have blamed the six-day unrest on exiled opposition
groups, and the state-run television on Monday evening broadcast pieces
of confession by some arrested people about their contact with Iranian
opposition groups in the United States.
Conservative judicial officials Monday also warned the country's freedom-seeking
press, individuals and groups against publishing any "provocative
articles and statements."
The judiciary chief Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi said that "such seditious
acts, no matter on whose part they are, will be encountered legally and
strictly."
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