The Iranian government closed a newspaper and magazine critical of the government on Monday, citing that they went beyond "the limits of the press" and were "not committed to the constitution," respectively.
—Iranian official on the closure of opposition mediaThe daily newspaper Etemaad, which is the largest-circulation reformist paper, was banned by the Press Supervisory Board, a media watchdog controlled by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.  
According to the ruling, the newspaper was in violation of a part of Iran's press code that bars media from, among other things, insulting officials, mentioning ethnic differences, and speaking critically of Islamic sanctities. Despite the ban, an official from the board said the decision was "taken with a degree of leniency" in that the paper had not had its publishing license revoked, unlike the closed magazine, IranDokht. The board said that the ban was temporary, but according to the Iranian Students News Agency, such "temporary" bans have in the past become indefinite in nature.
The weekly magazine IranDokht was also closed, and had its publishing licence revoked. The magazine's leadership is composed of several prominent opposition leaders.  The license of the magazine is held by the wife of Mehdi Karroubi, and the managing director is Karroubi's son, Hossein Karroubi. Hossein Karroubi said that the magazine had been targeted because of his father's political differences with the ruling party, and that the government had contacted the magazine, criticizing its political stance.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!
Share this: 






This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Iranian government bans critical media