Fifteen Iranian lawmakers call for an end to censorship
Tehran (AsiaNews) – Following the increase in pressure on news sources inside Iran, 15 members of the Majlis (parliament) issued a statement calling on the minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance to remove “[a]ll pressures, threats, imitations and bottlenecks created for certain press, and publication, both electronic or otherwise”.
In reporting this, Rooz mentioned that the limitations on news agencies, including the ILNA Labor News, initially came in the form of an announcement by the ministry about “authorized news sources”.
Today, as the lawmakers point out, “[b]ased on documents and other evidence from the ministry [. . .], certain publications and news agencies have been put under pressure and bottlenecks created for them on fabricated excuses by imposing conditions for their operations, limiting their activities, and threats through written or verbal notices, forcing them to exercise various forms of censorship and withholding the publication of events by depriving them of some services and resources such as the limitations imposed on ILNA news agency.”
Limitations on official news sources began when a short news item appeared in Mehr, a news agency affiliated to the Islamic Propagation Organization (Sazeman-e Tablighat-e Eslami).
The note claimed that “most news reports [.. . .] referenced by human rights organizations that call on action against the Iran [sic], are those that come from the ISNA Student News agency and ILNA Labor News agency, both Iranian news sources.”
After that the press deputy at the Ministry of Islamic Guidance announced that it was going clean up the news as well as news agencies.
Even before any law was adopted, ILNA journalists were denied access to press conferences by Iranian President Ahmadinejad. Others were laid off, ostensibly to reduce staff costs. Still no one provided any explanation as to why staff reduction applied only to the reporters from the news agency’s political section.
In concluding, the letter signed by 15 Majlis members, said: “Since the press and publications are free to express themselves within the confines of the law and no authority has the right to exert any pressure on them or force them into exercising censorship, it is appropriate that measures be taken to remove any such pressures and limitations.”
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