2 Reformist Writers Jailed as Peers Were Lauding Them

Two pro-reform Iranian writers were arrested just as they were being honored by their peers as the best in their fields, reports said Sunday. The imprisonments brought the number of writers detained to five in eight days.

Ebrahim Nabavi was on his way to jail Saturday at the time his name was being called out as best satirist at an awards ceremony honoring Iranian media, said Karim Arqandehpour, deputy head of the Press Guild Assn.

Nabavi, who had written for several now-banned reformist newspapers, was interrogated Saturday and ordered jailed by the judge of the hard-line press court, Saeed Mortazavi, the daily Hamshahri reported.

Mohammed Ghoochani was jailed Sunday, a day after he was honored as best political writer. Ghoochani, who wrote for the now-banned Asr-e-Azadegan, was summoned to court Saturday.

“This is not a press festival. This is a press mourning. There is nothing to celebrate,” the daily Iran newspaper quoted Rajabali Mazrouei as saying, presumably at the awards ceremony. Mazrouei is a lawmaker and a leading member of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, Iran’s largest reformist party.

Another liberal writer, Ahmad Zeidabadi, was supposed to be at the awards ceremony as a member of the panel of journalists who acted as judges. He was jailed last Monday, one of three other writers detained recently.

Since April, 25 newspapers--all but one pro-reform--have been closed and more than two dozen reformist writers jailed. Most are being held on the charge of “insulting Islamic sanctities.”

Nabavi, whose books are highly popular in Iran, was detained for a month in September 1998 for his critical satirical writings.

Hard-liners have been fighting a popular reform movement led by President Mohammad Khatami. The reformists won control of parliament in February elections, but hard-liners run the judiciary, military and the broadcast network.