Iran Clerics Target Nascent Press Freedoms

By Jonathan Lyons

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's clerical conservatives, emboldened by parliament's approval of tough new press restrictions, have struck a blow at moderate President Mohammad Khatami with the closure of the newspaper that helped his meteoric rise to power.

The Special Court for Clergy banned indefinitely Wednesday the daily Salam, organ of old guard leftist clerics, after it printed details of what it said was a secret plan by hard-liners to muzzle the pro-reform press.

The court charged Salam with violating Islamic principles, endangering national security and disturbing public opinion.

A night editor was also detained, Salam journalists said.

The court cited a complaint by the intelligence ministry after the daily published what it said was a secret memo that detailed efforts by ministry official Saeed Emami, said to have later committed suicide in jail, to rein in the moderate media.

``On July 6, the intelligence ministry said in a complaint that Salam has printed top secret material from the ministry which, regardless of its truth and the fact that it was taken out of context, has created doubts in the public mind,'' the court said in a statement.

``The newspaper will remain closed until a verdict is given by the Special Court for Clergy,'' it said.

The indefinite closure order silenced the newspaper that helped Khatami's meteoric rise from the head of the national library to landslide presidential victor in 1997.

Abbas Abdi, an influential Salam editor, vowed to fight the ban. ``No law permits the closure of Salam newspaper, and we should undertake every effort to return Salam to its position, because Salam is part of the press family,'' he told journalists.

Abdi denied Salam had published secret material and cited its ``journalistic obligation'' to break the story.

The reformist press, the most visible fruit of the Khatami thaw, blasted the ban, with some suggesting it was an attempt to suppress information about last year's mystery murders of dissidents, now blamed on Emami and other rogue security agents.

``The motive is to muzzle the press and prevent coverage of the killings,'' said a commentary in Sobh-e Emrouz, published by a former deputy intelligence minister.

The ban came hours after conservatives pushed through parliament the outlines of sweeping new press restrictions.

By a vote of 125 to 90, MPs approved in principle a major overhaul of Iran's press law, first drafted by Khatami when he was minister of culture in the 1980s.

Final details of the measure must still be worked out but moderate editors said they had little hope that the new restrictions would be watered down substantially.

Proposed changes in the law include compelling journalists to reveal their sources, barring journalists and editors linked to certain opposition groups from engaging in any form of press activity, and increasing conservative influence over the media.

Sponsors said the changes were necessary to defend ``Islamic and Revolutionary values,'' but reformers fear a clampdown on nascent press freedoms which Khatami has made a centerpiece of his drive to create a civil society within the Islamic system.

The reformist press was expected to play a central part in promoting his supporters in next February's parliamentary elections, but the new restrictions could tip the balance of media power toward the conservative establishment.