Yesterday I posted an blog alert that Iran had tried to stop free speech by arresting a dissident blogger, who holds Canadian citizenship. Freedom of speech: clearly not in Iran.
Today, according to Reuters News Agency, the Iranian government has also shut down a Tehran newspaper that dared to condemn Gaza terrorists for sheltering themselves in hospitals and kindergardens. Oops!
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Iranian newspaper
reportedly closed
for Gaza article
TEHRAN (Reuters) – A newspaper close to former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has been closed down for publishing an article the authorities said was sympathetic to Israel, the official IRNA news agency reported on Wednesday.
The moderate daily Kargozaran is regarded as close to Rafsanjani, who was defeated by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the 2005 presidential election.
“The reason for the closure of the newspaper is because it published an article yesterday in which it sanitised the Zionist regime’s crimes in Gaza,” Mohammad Parvizi of the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry told IRNA.
He did not say when the ban would take effect. The newspaper appeared on newsstands on Wednesday.
Israel’s air attacks on the Gaza Strip have prompted protests in Iran, mainly by students who accuse Arab and Western countries of doing too little to stop the Israeli action. Iranian officials have also condemned what they say is international inaction.
Kargozaran is the latest publication critical of Ahmadinejad’s government to be shut down by the authorities. A prominent pre-reform weekly magazine, Shahrvand-e Emrouz, was closed in November.
Some political analysts say closures are aimed at stifling dissent, although the government says it welcomes constructive criticism and says it upholds the principle of free speech.
Rafsanjani is not expected to stand again for the presidency in June next year but he remains an influential figure in Iranian politics and has criticised the government, particularly over its management of the economy.
Parvizi said the Kargozaran article had suggested some supporters of the Palestinians were a “terrorist group” and said Palestinians who sheltered in kindergartens and hospitals “caused the bombings and killing of children and civilians.”
(Reporting by Hossein Jaseb, writing by Edmund Blair; editing by Andrew Dobbie)
Courtesy: Reuters UK
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As I have predicted earlier this week … watch Iran (and its equally fascistic ally Russia) in 2009; this will be a difficult year for those of us who believe in freedom, democracy and free speech.
Harv Oberfeld
1 response so far ↓
1 BC Mary // Feb 15, 2009 at 6:32 am
Harvey,
What’s your opinion of news media which can’t be bothered to publish important news which is happening right under their noses?
I refer especially to the mad week when Dave Basi appeared in Victoria Supreme Court on charges of accepting a bribe to influence the removal of land from the A.L.R. in Sooke.
That’s pretty big news. But even bigger news was the arrival of Madam Justice Bennett from Vancouver, who also held Basi hearings related to the BC Rail Case. Erik Bornmann testified and we hear there was a heated exchange.
Not a mention in any CanWest newspaper. Nothing. Only Bill Tieleman on his blog and I, on my blog, got the story out to the people of British Columbia.
What do you think of that kind of news black-out right here in B.C., never mind about Iran or Russia. What’s our excuse?
(Response: I think it is awful, Mary, in so many ways. First, is this what happens when the media “do more with less”? ie. not enough reporters to cover stories like this in detail? Would they ignore it as much had it been NDP staff working for an NDP government? I think not. And perhaps it’s also part of the dumbing down of news … filling airtime minutes and printed pages with more and more “fluff” features that can be used in newspapers or on tv stations right across the country..and even across the continent. Awful. ho)
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