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Gh. Karbaschi
TEHRAN: Iran has shut down a leading moderate daily for the second time in less than a year after it published an interview with a woman accused of being a homosexual activist, staff members said on Monday.
The ban on Shargh (East), the favourite newspaper of Iranian liberals, comes amid growing pressure on the press in Iran and follows the closure of fellow moderate daily Ham Mihan last month.
"I have been told that the press watchdog has ordered the ban. We have not been officially notified yet," Mehdi Rahmanian, Shargh's licence holder and managing director, said.
"We had an article which was an interview with an expatriate writer. They said she had moral problems, they say she is homosexual and promotes that in her weblog. But we talked to her as a poet," he added.
There was no official confirmation from the authorities, but the Fars news agency cited an informed source in the culture ministry as saying that the press watchdog had ordered a temporary ban on the paper.
Shargh lawyer Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabai said: "Interviewing an individual cannot be a reason for closure when there is no vice in that interview.
"The reason for the ban is unlawful because the judiciary has not protested against the individual who was interviewed," he said, according to the ISNA news agency.
Shargh in its Saturday edition published a full-page interview with Saghi Ghahreman, an expatriate Iranian poet who lives in Canada, under the headline 'Feminine Language'.
The hardline daily Kayhan, known for its repeated attacks on the moderate press, retorted that Ghahreman was the head "of the Iranian homosexuals organisation" and a "counter-revolutionary fugitive".
"Media observers believe that Shargh has interviewed this homosexual with awareness of her sick sexual identity, dissident views and porno personality," it added.
Homosexuality is strictly illegal in the Islamic republic and homosexual sex is theoretically punishable by death. However, the extent to which gays are pursued in practice is highly debatable.
Shargh had only returned to the news-stands in May after serving a nine-month ban for publishing a cartoon deemed offensive to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The paper on Monday published a front-page apology for the interview, saying it had been "unaware of this person's personal traits" and would in future "avoid such people and movements".
Ghahreman made no explicit reference to homosexuality in the interview but said that "sexual boundaries must be flexible... The immoral is imposed by culture on the body".
Ham Mihan, directed by former Tehran mayor Gholam Hossein Karbaschi, was shut down on July 3 less than two months after the authorities allowed it to reappear after a seven-year ban.
Culture Minister Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi has also denounced a "creeping coup in the press" while the authorities last month banned the moderate labour news agency ILNA.
The Iranian judiciary on Monday closed down the leading reformist daily Sharq (East), the ISNA news agency reported.
Sharq publisher Mehdi Rahmanian told ISNA that although no reason has yet been given by the judiciary for the closure, he believed that an interview with an expatriate writer was the main cause for the ban.
The writer is said to be Saghi Ghahreman, an expatriate Iranian poet who lives in Canada and is reportedly also an activist for the rights of homosexuals.
Homosexuality is forbidden in Islamic Iran, where no homosexual dares to come out publicly.
A judiciary spokesman told Mehr news agency that the main charges against Sharq would soon be made public. Nasser Saraj added that the cases of 20 more newspapers and magazines were under evaluation but gave no further details.
The Fars news agency however quoted an unnamed judiciary source as confirming that the closure was due to the interview dealing with homosexuality, a taboo in the Iranian press.
Sharq was banned last year under the pretext of insulting religious and political figures and fomenting public discord but reopened again last May.
The judiciary had last month also closed down the moderate daily Ham-Mihan due to legal problems related to its chief manager and former Tehran mayor, Gholam-Hossein Karbaschi, who is a renowned opponent of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's policies.
Also closed down last month was the labour news agency ILNA which mainly dealt with labour issues and is close to the moderate- reformist coalition and quite critical of the government's economic policies.
Other reformist dailies are the Etemad Melli (National Trust) and the Kargozaran (People's Servants) which are also critical of the political status quo but still tolerated by the government.
The ban on Shargh (East), the favourite newspaper of Iranian liberals, comes amid growing pressure on the press in Iran and follows the closure of fellow moderate daily Ham Mihan last month.
"I have been told that the press watchdog has ordered the ban. We have not been officially notified yet," Mehdi Rahmanian, Shargh's licence holder and managing director, said.
"We had an article which was an interview with an expatriate writer. They said she had moral problems, they say she is homosexual and promotes that in her weblog. But we talked to her as a poet," he added.
There was no official confirmation from the authorities, but the Fars news agency cited an informed source in the culture ministry as saying that the press watchdog had ordered a temporary ban on the paper.
Shargh lawyer Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabai said: "Interviewing an individual cannot be a reason for closure when there is no vice in that interview.
"The reason for the ban is unlawful because the judiciary has not protested against the individual who was interviewed," he said, according to the ISNA news agency.
Shargh in its Saturday edition published a full-page interview with Saghi Ghahreman, an expatriate Iranian poet who lives in Canada, under the headline 'Feminine Language'.
The hardline daily Kayhan, known for its repeated attacks on the moderate press, retorted that Ghahreman was the head "of the Iranian homosexuals organisation" and a "counter-revolutionary fugitive".
"Media observers believe that Shargh has interviewed this homosexual with awareness of her sick sexual identity, dissident views and porno personality," it added.
Homosexuality is strictly illegal in the Islamic republic and homosexual sex is theoretically punishable by death. However, the extent to which gays are pursued in practice is highly debatable.
Shargh had only returned to the news-stands in May after serving a nine-month ban for publishing a cartoon deemed offensive to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The paper on Monday published a front-page apology for the interview, saying it had been "unaware of this person's personal traits" and would in future "avoid such people and movements".
Ghahreman made no explicit reference to homosexuality in the interview but said that "sexual boundaries must be flexible... The immoral is imposed by culture on the body".
Ham Mihan, directed by former Tehran mayor Gholam Hossein Karbaschi, was shut down on July 3 less than two months after the authorities allowed it to reappear after a seven-year ban.
Culture Minister Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi has also denounced a "creeping coup in the press" while the authorities last month banned the moderate labour news agency ILNA.
The Iranian judiciary on Monday closed down the leading reformist daily Sharq (East), the ISNA news agency reported.
Sharq publisher Mehdi Rahmanian told ISNA that although no reason has yet been given by the judiciary for the closure, he believed that an interview with an expatriate writer was the main cause for the ban.
The writer is said to be Saghi Ghahreman, an expatriate Iranian poet who lives in Canada and is reportedly also an activist for the rights of homosexuals.
Homosexuality is forbidden in Islamic Iran, where no homosexual dares to come out publicly.
A judiciary spokesman told Mehr news agency that the main charges against Sharq would soon be made public. Nasser Saraj added that the cases of 20 more newspapers and magazines were under evaluation but gave no further details.
The Fars news agency however quoted an unnamed judiciary source as confirming that the closure was due to the interview dealing with homosexuality, a taboo in the Iranian press.
Sharq was banned last year under the pretext of insulting religious and political figures and fomenting public discord but reopened again last May.
The judiciary had last month also closed down the moderate daily Ham-Mihan due to legal problems related to its chief manager and former Tehran mayor, Gholam-Hossein Karbaschi, who is a renowned opponent of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's policies.
Also closed down last month was the labour news agency ILNA which mainly dealt with labour issues and is close to the moderate- reformist coalition and quite critical of the government's economic policies.
Other reformist dailies are the Etemad Melli (National Trust) and the Kargozaran (People's Servants) which are also critical of the political status quo but still tolerated by the government.
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