Top Ayatollah Backs Media Crackdown

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei endorsed the recent crackdown on reformist newspapers in Iran, describing the publications as “deviant” and urging supporters not to remain silent. He condemned “a deviant media movement that is trying to shape public opinion and turn it against Islam . . . and the Islamic Republic.” His remarks came amid reports that a court dominated by hard-liners had sent a warning to the brother of reformist President Mohammad Khatami. Press Court Judge Saeed Mortazavi wrote Tuesday to Mohammad Reza Khatami, saying his Mosharekat newspaper’s publishing several editions a day amounted to it putting out several other newspapers under its name. The daily is one of only three reformist papers to survive the recent closures that shuttered 13 others.