(New York, October 12, 1999) -- Independent newspaper editors,
publishers, and journalists in Iran are suffering arbitrary detention,
assault and prosecution, Human Rights Watch charged in a report released
today. These attacks have become more frequent during the presidency of
Mohammad Khatami, as conservatives within the government have sought to
suppress what has emerged as the major mobilizing tool of reformists.
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"The press has become a human-rights victim in Iran's political
struggle. The only way to protect
press freedom is to write it clearly into law."
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Hanny Megally
Executive Director of the Middle East and
North Africa division of Human Rights Watch
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The closure of Neshat (Happiness) newspaper in early September is the
fourth time this year that the courts have closed down a major
independent newspaper that supports President Khatami's reform agenda.
This closure, and the sentencing of Neshat's publisher, Latif Safari, to
a 30-month suspended prison term, has again demonstrated the
vulnerability of the press to politically-motivated attacks.
Human Rights Watch today called on the Iranian government to replace the
Press Law of 1985, which restricts freedom of press, with legislation
that protects and upholds the right to freedom of expression. The
Iranian parliament is currently considering amendments to the 1985 law
which would, on the contrary, weaken its limited safeguards for press
freedom. They would make journalists liable for prosecution in
exceptional courts such as the Special Court for the Clergy, or the
Revolutionary Court, where international fair-trial standards are
disregarded.
"The press has become a human-rights victim in Iran's political
struggle," said Hanny Megally, Executive Director of the Middle East and
North Africa division of Human Rights Watch. "The only way to protect
press freedom is to write it clearly into law."
The Human Rights Watch report, "‘As Fragile as a Crystal Glass:' Press
Freedom in Iran," charts the tumultuous history of the press under
President Khatami-- a period during which the press has shown diversity
and vibrancy despite suffering attacks from the conservative-dominated
courts and from armed groups who have beaten journalists and ransacked
newspaper offices. Independent journalists were among those killed in a
wave of political murders at the end of 1998, which created a climate of
fear but did not succeed in stifling the independent spirit of the
press. In May 1999, the government minister most closely associated
with press freedom, Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Ataollah
Mohajerani, narrowly avoided impeachment by the conservative-controlled
parliament.
The report also describes the domestic and international legal framework
within which the press operates in Iran. Sweeping language in the
Constitution of the Islamic Republic qualifies and undermines the right
to freedom of expression. The Press Law itself contains contradictory
provisions and imprecise language which has failed to uphold the right
in practice.
In the absence of legally-recognized political parties, the press in
Iran has taken on the role of mouthpiece for competing political
interests. The struggle to control the press, described in the report,
is in many ways the struggle to control the future direction of the
Islamic Republic as a whole. The press is likely to be a political
battleground in the run-up to parliamentary elections in February 2000
and beyond.
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