TEHRAN, 8 August 2004 — Some 150 Iranian journalists, some wearing black armbands, attended a mourning ceremony yesterday for reformist newspapers closed in a press crackdown by the hard-line judiciary.
Copies of closed down newspapers were laid out on a table, surrounded by black candles. Two liberal dailies and a monthly magazine were shut by the judiciary last month.
“I send my condolences that pens do not enjoy safety in our country,” leading academic dissident Hashem Aghajari told the reporters who had gathered on Iran’s “Journalists’ Day”.
A freer press was one of the main achievements of moderate President Mohammad Khatami after he came to office in 1997, but more than 100 publications have now been banned and many writers jailed for “spreading lies” and “acting against state security”.
There is now little left to show for Khatami’s efforts after hardliners took over parliament in May and began to unravel his reforms, particularly on economic liberalization. “Is not the closure of more than 100 publications enough?” read one banner.
The meeting room was decked with photographs of Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi who died in detention in Iran last year, and of imprisoned journalists Abbas Abdi and Akbar Ganji.
Abdi was jailed for publishing a poll suggesting that three-quarters of Iranians favored patching up relations with the United States.
“Today is meant to be a day for journalists to celebrate, but when we have pressure on the media, colleagues in jail and periodicals are banned ... it is not a day to celebrate. It is a day to mourn,” said journalist Zhila Bani-Yakoub.
Issa Saharkhiz, head of the Association for Press Freedom, said attention also needed to be given to the non-print media that were under attack, such as Rouydad, the Web site affiliated to Iran’s main reformist party. “From now on we have to remain accountable to Internet-based journalists in addition to print,” he said.
Meanwhile, nearly 200 Iranian women wearing head coverings considered insufficient under the country’s Islamic code have been arrested, newspapers reported yesterday. Iranian security forces launched raids in cities of central Semnan and northern Gilan provinces, arresting 183 women in recent weeks, the reports said.
Some 132 “badly covered” women were picked up in Semnan Province, the Sharq daily reported, adding that 69 of them face trial. Another 1,250 women in the province have received verbal warnings to respect the Islamic dress code, police told the paper.
In Gilan, 51 women and girls were arrested “to fight open spectacles of corruption,” the Iran newspaper quoted provincial security forces as saying. Similar raids have been reported in recent weeks, mainly in Tehran shopping centers.
Police have been seen taking scores of teenaged girls from commercial centers, while both police and Islamic militiamen have also reportedly stepped up raids on private parties where they suspect the presence of alcohol or mixed-sex dancing.
Observers said that although such anti-vice operations occur every summer, the crackdown could be a sign of further tightening of rules in the wake of February’s parliamentary election, which resulted in a shift to the right.
In large cities in recent years, many women have progressively flouted the rules by wearing skimpy headscarves and brightly colored short coats. Women ignoring the Islamic dress code can be jailed for up to two months or fined between 50,000 and 500,000 rials ($6.25 and $62.50).
In another development, a convicted kidnapper has been hanged publicly in the city of Zahedan in the southeastern province of Sistan Baluchestan, Sharq said. Yusof Porsheh was charged with a series of armed robberies, opening fire on police, escape from jail and kidnapping as well as disturbing and terrifying people, Sharq quoted the city’s court as saying.
The gang he belonged to was also smashed by police, the report said, adding that more than 10 cases of kidnapping had been carried out in Zahedan in the last couple of months amid conflicts over money stemming from illegal deals. The police have so far arrested eight kidnappers and killed one in operations.
