Iranian Intelligence Drops Complaint Against Paper

Iran’s powerful Intelligence Ministry on Thursday withdrew a complaint against a leading moderate newspaper, raising hopes that the banned daily would be allowed to resume publication.

“The Intelligence Ministry withdraws its complaint in line with its firm policy of nonpartisanship . . . and for the sake of maintaining calm, avoiding tension and backing the government’s policies on political development and legal press freedom,” it said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear if the move would lead to the rescinding of a court order banning Salam, one of the main newspapers backing President Mohammad Khatami against his conservative opponents.

Citing the complaint, the Special Court for Clergy issued an indefinite ban Wednesday against Salam, organ of veteran leftist clerics, for printing details of what it said was a secret plan by hard-liners to muzzle the pro-reform press.

The ban, which followed parliament’s approval of tough new press restrictions, was a blow to Khatami’s program of liberal political and social reforms within Iran’s Islamic system.

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 ban had come hours after conservatives pushed through parliament the outlines of sweeping new press restrictions.

By a vote of 125 to 90, deputies 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.