On the eve of two important elections in Iran, ayatollah seyed Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic regime last week again spoke of foreign interference in Iranian cultural leadership, the media and public relations affairs by accusing the country’s media to be unfair towards the current administration of president Ahmadinejad.
The first time Khamenei spoke of foreign interference in Iranian media was five years ago. Following those comments, 19 publications and dailies were shut during the next ten days. The event has come to be known as the ‘bulk’ closure of newspapers. Similarly, sometime later, when the sixth Majlis (Iranian Parliament) was busy modifying the Press Law, Khamenei intervened and ended the direction of the changes.
Now, as the country’s political apparatus prepares itself for the forthcoming elections to the powerful Majles Khobregan Assembly (Assembly of Experts on Leadership that votes on and supervises the performance of the supreme leader of Iran), and the provincial council elections all over the country, fears have been raised again that the remaining non-mainstream media that cautiously criticizes some of the policies of the regime, may be shut down as well. This fear comes forth particularly because Khamenei has spoken of foreign interference in the cultural leadership of Iran. The management of the cultural domain in the Islamic regime is in the hands of such organizations as the Ministry of Islamic Guidance, the National Iranian Radio and Television network, Islamic Propagation Organization (Sazemane Tablighate Islami), the National Youth Organization (Sazemane Melli Javanan), and the Friday Imams Organization (Shoraye Aame Jome’e), all of which are in the hands of the religious conservatists. The supreme leader of the Islamic order is responsible for the appointments of the leaders to most of these cultural institutions. Traditionally, the presidential choice and appointment of the minister of culture is carried out through consultations with the supreme leader as well.
Last week, as president Ahmadinejad spoke of the openness of his administration in accepting criticism, Khamenei revealed of the president’s disapproval of the way the media has been treating him and his cabinet. The leader said that he sided with the president because of the media outlets had been unfair in their treatment of the president, and questioned the policies of the government, while exaggerating some of its small errors, in their writings.
“In the past I had issued warnings about foreign interference in the management of cultural policies and the media. And while some denied such an interference in those days, today everyone acknowledges it,” Khamenei said last week.
While the French-based Reporters Without Borders has called Ali Khamenei one of the enemies of the free press, and Iran is on top of the list of countries that practices news and press censorship, Khamenei also spoke of “freedom of expression.” “The fact that some media in the country freely write against the government and the regime is an explicit indication of the existence of the freedom of expression in the country, even though the aware Iranian nation pays no attention to these writings,” Khamenei further said.
He implicitly linked the criticism of the press in the country to US efforts to weaken the Islamic order. In his recent talk, he repeatedly spoke of the “threat of the enemy”. In the town of Garmsar, the birthplace of president Ahmadinejad for example, Khamenei said, “A few years ago, some American politicians had said that there were people in Iran waiting for a US signal to topple the Iranian regime. Today however, the reality has become clear to the enemies of the Iranian nation, because they can neither take control of this country nor even harm the Iranian nation.”
While there has been plenty of public criticism during the recent months about the economic performance of president Ahmadinejad’s government, and also about his foreign policy which has completely isolated Iran on the international stage, Khamenei presented a different picture. “Today, the Islamic regime is in very good shape in comparison to previous years and is in fact in its best and most superior state, which has come about because of the relentless efforts of the officials of the state, faith in religious values, the serious war against discrimination and corruption, the efforts to alleviate the problems of the masses, especially the deprived, economic and social indicators, the weakening of the enemies and the unity of the people,” he said.
Khamenei’s remarks have again raised serious concerns about the fate of reporters, political activists and the future of the media. Especially as his warnings come just weeks after the closure of popular Shargh and Roozegar newspapers. In this light, Emrouz news website wrote, “After the closure of Shargh and Roozegar newspapers, “There are now scattered reports about a new round of filtering of many news websites.”
Etemad Melli newspaper which belongs to moderate politicians and former officials in Iran, also has written about the recent filtering of such news websites as Advar News, Entekhab, Persian BBC, Emrouz, and Meidane Zanan.
