Ministry closes reformist Shahrvand weekly
Published: Friday, November 07, 2008
11:53GMT—6:53PM/EST
SHAHRVAND-E EMRUZ – MAGAZINE – CLOSURE
Washington, 6 November (IranVNC)—An official from Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, today confirmed the closure of the weekly Shahrvand-e Emruz [today’s citizen].
A few hours after Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, harshly criticized that country’s press, accusing them of lacking in principles and portraying the state of the country in overly dark terms, two semi-official news agencies, Fars and Mehr reported the closure of the Tehran weekly, Shahrvad-e Emruz, on charges of “unrealistic portrayal of some actions of the government”.
The weekly magazine Shahrvand-e Emruz, is one of Iran most popular weekly, and runs with the support from of Kargozaaran [Executives of Construction] Party, which is aligned to Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, chairman of two of Iran’s most important political bodies, the Expediency Council and the Assembly of experts.
The magazine had recently defended the presidential candidacy of Hojatoleslam Mehdi Karoubi, the secretary-general of E’temaad Melli [National Trust] Party, and had been critical of the current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s policies, in articles published in its various editions.
On Thursday Alireza Molkian, the public relations deputy of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance officially confirmed the report about the closure of Shahrvand-e Emruz.
“The publication, Shahrvand-e Emruz was closed because it did not comply with conditions set for it by the Press Supervisory Board,” Molkian said.
In Iran all publications require a license approved by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the Interior and Intelligence Ministries and the Judiciary, and the license designates the holder’s commitments.
The deputy culture minister held that Shahrvand holds an ‘economic, social, cultural and sports-related’ license and therefore cannot publish political articles.
Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabataba’i, the attorney for Shahrvand-e Emruz today told Iran’s Labor News Agency: “The reason for the closure of the publication Shahrvand has been given as publishing political articles.”
Shahrvand-e Emruz began publication in early Ordibehesht of 1386 [21 April – 20 May, 2007] and had published 70 issues before its closure.
Sources: IRNA, ILNA, Fars, Mehr news agencies, all in Persian.
© IranVNC 2008. All rights reserved.
(Original article written in Persian.)