Editor of Banned Newspaper Is Freed

An Iranian court released on bail a newspaper editor arrested a month ago after his outspoken moderate daily was banned, Iran’s news agency IRNA reported in Tehran. It quoted a judiciary official as saying Tous daily’s chief editor, Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, who was arrested on unspecified security charges in mid-September, was freed Wednesday night after posting bail. Three other staff members, who were arrested on similar charges, also have been released on bail. The arrests and the closure of the popular newspaper, banned on charges of insulting the late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, had drawn protests from Iranian moderates.