Iranian regime judiciary convicts editor of banned daily

                           

The Iranian regime's judiciary has convicted the editor and a contributor of a banned newspaper over a series of charges, including lying about Islam and spreading anti-regime propaganda, state-run news agency ISNA reported. Their sentences has not been announced.

The editor-in-chief of the state-run Bahar daily, Saeed Pourazizi, who was detained and released on bail following the closure of the daily in October 2013, was on Sunday convicted of "propaganda against the establishment and spreading lies and rumors."

Also the article's author was convicted of being guilty of writing "against the standards of Islam" and "spreading lies and rumors," the agency added.

The court also ruled the newspaper was guilty of spreading "propaganda against the establishment and insulting Islam and its sanctities."
The Iranian regime also banned state-run daily 'Ghanoon' (meaning 'law' in Persian) on May 7 'until further notice' for 'spreading lies.'

According to the daily's editor in chief, Massud Kazemi, the ban was issued over a report about the release on bail of former IRGC commander Mohammad Rouyanian who was chairman of the Persepolis soccer club. He had been arrested on fraud charges.

On April 28, the Iranian regime closed down the state-run Ebtekar newspaper for 'spreading rumours and lies' because it published a report on the sacking of the head of the Prisons Organization.

Ebtekar's managing director Mohammad Ali Vakili told Mehr news agency that the ban was imposed by the judiciary authorities after the paper published details of the attack on political prisoners at Tehran's notorious Evin prison.

Protests at the brutal raid on Ward 350 forced the regime to remove prisons chief Gholam Hossein Esmaeeli, which the mullahs then portrayed as his 'promotion' to hide the fact they had been forced to back down over the protests.