Iran suspends publication of 12 newspapers

NICOSIA [MENL] -- In the latest crackdown on supporters of President Mohammed Khatami, Iranian authorities have suspended the publication of 12 reformist publications.

The official Islamic Republic News Agency said on Monday that authorities suspended publication of eight newspapers and four political magazines close to Khatami "until further notice." Earlier, the press court sentenced two journalists to prison terms and announced the suspension of two newspapers and a bi-monthly close to the liberal reformist movement.

In Monday's announcement, IRNA quoted the Justice Department as saying that the suspended publications had "persistently printed abusive material against the religious principles of the Islamic revolution." The court said the publications were infiltrated by foreign agents.

"The Justice Department said the tone of materials in those papers had brought smiles on the faces of the enemies of the Islamic republic and hurt the feelings of devout Muslims at home and even the leader of the Islamic Revolution," IRNA said.

The publications were identified as Gozaresh-e Rouz, Bamdad-no, Aftab-e Emrouz, Payam-e Azadi, Fath, Arya, Assr-e Azadegan, Azad, Payam-e Hajar, Aban, Arzesh and the monthly Iran Farda.

On Sunday, Latif Safari, head of the now-banned Neshat paper, was denied an appeal against a 30-month prison sentence handed down in 1999.

"I prefer to go to prison and serve an illegal sentence in order to unmask those who incessantly break the law," he wrote in a letter distributed to journalists after he was whisked away on Sunday.

On Saturday, the Iranian press court imprisoned journalist Akbar Ganjim who published articles linking former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to the 1998 murders of several intellectuals and opposition leaders.