Published on 1 June 2009
9 February 2010 - Number of journalists and netizens in prison now tops 65
3 February 2010 - New round of Stalinist-style trials gets under way
28 January 2010 - Two bloggers face possible death penalty
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has guided the country since the death of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Khomeini, in 1989, consolidating his predecessor’s ultraconservative policies. He controls the country’s main political institutions and the public radio and television network, and he is consulted about the choice of person for the post of Minister of Culture and Islamic Orientation, who is responsible for most of the arrests of journalists
Ayatollah Khamenei often accuses the press of being manipulated by foreign governments, especially Israel. For example, the Commission for Press Authorisation and Surveillance, the censorship arm of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Orientation, ordered the suspension of the daily Kargozaraan on 31 December 2008 for “defending Israel’s actions in Gaza and its crimes against the Muslim populations.” A total of 30 newspapers were suspended in Iran in 2008, 22 of them by the Commission for Press Authorisation and Surveillance. Nonetheless, Khamenei claims that Iran’s journalists are free to say what they like. “The fact that certain media can freely criticise the government and the system of rule is an explicit indication of respect for free expression in the country, even if the Iranian nation pays no attention to this criticism,” he said.
Adel Kareem Nabil Suleiman, better known by the pen name Kareem Amer, was arrested on 6 November 2006, for articles published on his blog .
