‎The central council of the Association for Press Freedom based in Iran discussed in its ‎Wednesday session the revocation of the license of Tehran Emrouz newspaper, and the ‎serious new threats against Association of Iranian Journalists (AOIJ). It concluded its ‎session by issuing a strong protest against the increased intimidation against freedom of ‎expression and press freedoms.‎

In its statement, the association expressed its concern about the plan to dissolve the ‎Association of Iranian Journalists (AOIJ) and wrote, “In the last transgressions against ‎NGOs and civil institutions, and in line with the increased intimidation against freedom ‎of press, the ministry of labor and social affairs of Iran recently concluded that AOIJ ‎qualified to be dissolved. While the officials of the ministry have threatened to shut the ‎largest and comprehensive professional organization in Iran and prevent it from holding ‎its generally assembly meetings and hold elections, in the past too other government ‎agencies had repeatedly tried to suppress freedom of speech by banning or shutting ‎independent and critical publications, and by summoning journalists to court or detaining ‎them.”‎

‎“Regardless of the legal formalities of the letter that the ministry of labor recently wrote - ‎whose legal errors are apparent to independent lawyers and observers – it must be ‎stressed that during the last ten years since the establishment of AOIJ, its activities have ‎not met the interests of some government agencies. Because of this, those who have been ‎threatening the AOIJ took a legal route this time to target the hopes and last bastion of the ‎rights of professional journalists, photographers, etc. While expressing our deepest ‎condemnation of the ministry of labor’s most recent transgressions, calls on the ‎administration of Mr. Ahmadinejad to reconsider its methods in dealing with journalists ‎and media managers, whether they exercise this through the Press Supervision Board or ‎different polices of the ministry of labor. Creating barriers to the work of journalists and ‎the media who acts like the fourth pillar of democracy, not only deprives society of those ‎who care about it and informs it, but also denies the government of a supervisory ‎channel,” the statement read.‎

The statement calls on all those who care about the press and particularly journalists “to ‎support AOIJ through all possible legal and civil means.” It continues, “Any inaction or ‎weakness in supporting AOIJ is not only against the claims of enlightenment by ‎journalists but is also contrary to their professional duties. The association hopes that all ‎strands of journalists and media managers will not come short on their support of AOIJ, ‎particularly at this time.”‎

Regardless the banning of Tehran Emrouz daily, the statement writes, “The association ‎expresses its strong condemnation regarding the banning and revocation of the license of ‎Tehran Emrouz. The banning of this publication is against the express provisions of the ‎constitution, particularly those that provide that press violations shall be investigated by ‎qualified judiciary forums and in the presence of a jury as provided in article 168 of the ‎document. The Press Monitoring Board shall function directly under the leadership of the ‎minister of culture and Islamic guidance, but it has placed itself in a position that is ‎contrary to the spirit and articles of the constitution and provisions of the press law. There ‎is no doubt that a reconsideration of the current policies and practices of the government ‎regarding journalists and media managers is in line with the national interest of the ‎country.”‎