TEHRAN, 8 July 2003 — Iran’s judiciary has suspended from publication a local newspaper and arrested its chief editor after the paper carried a front-page photograph of banned opposition People’s Mujahedeen leader Maryam Rajavi, the paper said yesterday. The Asia Financial Daily said its flamboyant editor in chief Iraj Jamshidi and his wife Saghi Baghernia, the paper’s nominal managing director and license holder, were arrested Sunday and held overnight in north Tehran’s Evin prison.

Baghernia was released yesterday on bail, international editor Akbar Javadi told AFP, adding that Jamshidi had been offered bail of two billion rials ($245,000). On Saturday, the Asia Financial Daily carried a front-page story on the freeing on bail by a French court of Rajavi, including a photo showing her smiling, clutching a bouquet of flowers and being cheered by delighted supporters.

Rajavi and her husband and People’s Mujahedeen leader, Massoud Rajavi, are widely unpopular, largely due to the cult-like rules they impose in their group.

They also supported Saddam Hussein during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, when around one million people, mostly Iranians, lost their lives. Any reference to the group is usually accompanied by them being referred to as “hypocrites”.

But the paper defended its printing of her photo, which has led to the editor facing charges of “publishing anti-regime propaganda”. “It was absolutely legitimate,” Javadi asserted, claiming the arrest and subsequent raiding and closure of the paper was part of what he said was a politically-motivated campaign by the judiciary - a bastion of Iran’s hard-line camp.

On June 17, more than 1,200 French officers raided a dozen locations linked to the group, classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Iran, and initially detained 165 people. Maryam Rajavi and 16 others were then placed under judicial investigation - the first step before possible formal charges in France - and on Thursday, Rajavi was granted bail of 80,000 euros ($92,200).

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said he was annoyed by the French court’s decision to let Rajavi go free.

He said the People’s Mujahedeen leaders “were freed on bail, and their freeing does not remove their crimes or the accusations against them.”

“We have no prejudice and we prefer to wait for the French judiciary to deal with this in an independent manner,” he added, but asked France to avoid setting a “negative precedent” in its dealings with the group. “It is the international responsibility of France, as well as other countries, to fight against terrorism and this group is a perfect example,” he told reporters.

In another development, Iranian students are planning a protest in front of the United Nations office in Tehran, despite a ban on student demonstrations scheduled for July 9, a students’ website reported yesterday. The website of the Amir Kabir University said the main students organization DTV (Office of Fostering Unity) believed a sit-in in front of the U.N. would be the best alternative to the banned demonstrations.

The July 9 demonstrations commemorate the anniversary of the 1999 student unrest. The dormitory of Tehran University, the epicenter of last month’s political unrests, has been closed down and all students have been sent home until mid-July. The 1999 demonstrations were also launched from the dormitory.

The judiciary confirmed last week that 4,000 students and non-students were arrested in last month’s unrest with half of them still in jail and awaiting trial next week. While there are some protests against the detainment of the students, estimated to number more than 80, no reports are yet available on the fate of the non-student detainees.