His Excellency Mohammad Khatami
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
The Presidency
Tehran
Islamic Republic of Iran

Vienna, 3 February 1999

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors and media executives, wishes to express its concern about the continued clampdown on Iran’s press

We are informed that on 2 February an Iranian court banned the liberal cultural journal, Adineh, after it found the bi-weekly’s editor “guilty of insult and dissemination of lies and corrupt articles.” The court ordered Gholam Hussein Zekeri to pay fines totalling nine million rials (approximately US$ 1,035).

On 24 January, the liberal newspaper Zan, was banned for two weeks. The ban was based on charges made by the head of police security, Mohammad Naki, after an article in the daily accused Naki of having been involved in an attack on Vice President Abdollah Nuri and Minister of Culture Ata’ollah Mohajerani in front of Tehran University in September. Zan (“Woman”) is published by Faeseh Hashemi, the daughter of former President Akhbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and is the first publication aimed at a female audience.

IPI is deeply concerned that moderate newspapers, many of which started publishing after Your Excellency’s 1997 election, are increasingly under threat as the Iranian judiciary, which is dominated by the conservative opposition, accuse the media of acting against Islam and the country’s security. Former Culture and Islamic Guidance Deputy Minister Ahmad Bourquani – a noted moderate and the country’s top press official – before announcing his resignation earlier this week, was quoted by Iranian newspapers on 2 February as saying: “They (conservative opponents) hurled accusations at us for trying to establish press freedom and said this would intensify the Western cultural onslaught.”

The suspension of numerous newspapers and magazines in Iran over recent months constitutes a blatant violation of the right to free information under Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory. We therefore urge Your Excellency to do everything in your power to end the constant judicial harassment of the press and to allow the resumption of banned publications.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Johann P. Fritz
Director