Khatami's government spokesman endorses closure of newspaper

The clerical regime's overseas television channel, Jam-e Jam, reported today that the General Court of Tehran upheld an earlier decision to withdraw for a year the publishing permit of the daily, Jame'eh, forcing it to shut down. The publisher has been fined 16 million rials.

The regime's official news agency, IRNA, reported today that Ata'ollah Mohajerani, Khatami's Minister of Islamic Guidance and cabinet spokesman, said after the ruling: "Any publication which, for any reason, does not observe its rights and limitations is regarded as an offender and we support the law and the court's verdict."

The Guidance Minister's endorsement of the closure of a newspaper that has been supportive of Khatami's own faction is another indication that any talk of moderation in the mullahs' terrorist and religious dictatorship is absurd and removed from reality.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
June 29, 1998

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