posted February 27, 2001 17:28               

The managing editor of Iran's weekly Aban newspaper appeared in court on Monday charged with 19 counts of spreading lies, insulting the Guardian Council, undermining the Judiciary and launching propaganda for illegal groups.

The Iranian news agency IRNA said editor declared to the court that his trial was illegal and denied all the charges.

posted March 08, 2001 11:25               

BBC Monitoring Service
Mar 7, 2001

Text of report in English by Iranian news agency IRNA

Tehran, 7 March: Press Jury has found reformist publisher Mohammad Hasan Alipour guilty of "propagating against the Islamic system" and "spreading lies to incite the public", Tehran's Justice Administration said Wednesday [7 March].

It noted that extenuating circumstances have been found for Alipour, who headed the now-banned reformist weekly Aban which was closed last year. 28 complaints had been filed against him, 26 by a hardline prosecutor-general, one by the police intelligence department and another by the head of a provincial revolutionary court.

Alipour had been charged on multiple counts of spreading lies, inciting corruption, insulting religious sanctities and spreading propaganda against the state.

posted March 13, 2001 10:07               

TEHRAN, March 12 (AFP) - The head of a pro-reform weekly was sentenced to six months in jail and slapped with a five-year ban on press activities, the state IRNA news agency reported Monday.

Mohammad-Hassan Ali-Pour, head of the now-banned Aban weekly, also lost the licence for the weekly and was fined 1,250 dollars, it said. He has 20 days to appeal the press court's verdict.

Ali-Pour was found guilty of publishing lies aimed at disrupting public order as well as propaganda against the regime, IRNA said, adding that the suspension of Aban would remain in place.

The agency also reported that an MP had withdrawn his complaint against Hossein Shariatmadari, head of Iran's number-one conservative daily newspaper Kayhan, who is appointed directly by Iran's supreme leader.

It said the MP had sent a letter to the judiciary asking that Shariatmadari not be charged "in order to preserve the dignity of the press and freedom of speech."

Judicial sources said Shariatmadari was questioned Saturday over 17 complaints filed against him by a number of parties and faces charges of defamation and insult.

He was set free on 25,000 dollars bail. A trial date has not yet been announced.

The director of Kayhan, like the head of the other prominent daily, Ettelaat, has since the 1979 Islamic revolution been named directly by the nation's supreme leader, currently Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.