AFP: The editor of a reformist Iranian newspaper has been arrested as part of the authorities’ crackdown on “illegal” Internet sites, the local media reported on Tuesday.
Javad Qolam Tamimi, editor of the pro-reform daily Mardomsalari, was arrested Monday evening for his involvement in the dissident sites, the daily Iran quoted a
local judiciary official as saying. AFP
TEHRAN – The editor of a reformist Iranian newspaper has been arrested as part of the authorities’ crackdown on “illegal” Internet sites, the local media reported on Tuesday.
Javad Qolam Tamimi, editor of the pro-reform daily Mardomsalari, was arrested Monday evening for his involvement in the dissident sites, the daily Iran quoted a local judiciary official as saying.
The arrest follows the announcement on October 12 by Iran’s hardline judiciary that a number of reformist journalists detained in its push against the Internet sites would go on trial after court hearings.
According to the judiciary spokesman the charges included “publishing propaganda against the regime, acting against national security, disturbing the public mind and also insulting religious sanctities.”
Omid Memarian, Rouzbeh Mir-Ebrahimi, Shahram Rafizadeh, Hanif Mazroui, Masoud Ghoreishi and several others have been reportedly arrested as part of the recent crackdowns for “their anti-establishment attitude which harms national security”.
Mir-Ebrahimi, who has worked on the political pages of two reformist papers, was arrested on September 27. Etemad journalist Shahram Rafizadeh was arrested on September 7, and Hanif Mazroui — the son of a former reformist lawmaker — was arrested several weeks ago.
Memarian, who maintains a controversial weblog, was arrested on October 10 in his office in Tehran, shortly after he was refused permission travel to the US to attend a conference on Iranian civil society in New York.
On 10 October, in reaction to the crackdown, a pro-reformist Iranian journalist group wrote a letter to the judiciary, warning of “harmful repercussions” for the regime if a wave of arrests continues.
Iran’s hardline judiciary has maintained a crackdown on the pro-reform press for several years, with scores of papers shut down and journalists frequently detained.
