Mullahs’ Revolutionary Prosecutor: freedom of press and speech is not absolute
“Freedom of press and speech is not absolute and subject to the rules of Sharia and the law,” General and Revolutionary Prosecutor, Saied Mortazavi, who was reportedly involved in the murder of Zahra Kazemi, the Iranian-Canadian photojournalist, told a group of reporters who cover the regime’s Majlis (Parliament) yesterday.
Mortazavi’s statement reflected the start of a new waive of crackdown on reporters and press in Iran under the rule of the mullahs.
The reporters were questioning Mortazavi about the mysterious death of the Sports Editor of Ressalat daily, Morteza Parvazi-Moghaddam, who died instantly, after apparently falling off the roof of a skyscraper in Tehran. Mortazavi replied that the investigations were not yet completed. Another sports reporter, Massoume Saqafi, was found hanged in her home under suspicious circumstance on March 21.
Tuesday, the state-run daily “Rooz” reported that some 30 reporters in different state news agencies had been fired together and a reporter for daily Etemad-e Melli had been beaten severely.
The Iranian Resistance condemns the new waive of crackdown on reporters in Iran and urges the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression and the Reporters without Boarders Organization to take action to prevent the suppression of journalists and the media in Iran.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
April 13, 2006
