NCRI – Ali Fereydooni, an organizer of the Tehran Book Fair and an agent of the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, has admitted that censorship exists in the books presented at the book fair.
In an interview with the state-run ILNA news agency on May 6, Fereydooni stressed: “So far, a number of books have been banned from being sold in the Book Fair because they were not compatible with the content terms and criteria. These books in the Arabic section of the Book Fair promote extremism and ethnic and religious divisions and the other books in the English section contained inappropriate pictures.”
He added: “The process of monitoring books and their contents – especially those in the international section of the Book Fair – has been launched in three stages beginning before the opening day of the Book Fair. To this day, observers admonished the content of books presented in Arabic and foreign sections.”
Ali Jannati, the Minister of Culture in Hassan Rouhani’s cabinet, acknowledged the regime’s censorship in books presented at the Book Fair.
“The imported books have been checked. Indeed, some of the foreign books have been banned from the Tehran Book Fair because they promoted extremism,” Jannati said.
Informed sources say that some of the banned Arabic books are among the most significant writings of Sunni Islam.