THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 257, October 6, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
PRESS CENSORSHIP IN IRAN:
JAIL FOR IRANIAN JOURNALISTS
By Arash Sigarchi
REGIME CENSORSHIP OF THE PRINT NEWS MEDIA IN IRAN: THE INSTRUMENTS WHICH ENFORCE CENSORSHIP:
THE SUPREME NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL; THE JUDICIARY; THE SECURITY AGENCIES; THE OFFICE OF THE FRIDAY
PRAYER LEADERS; THE HEZBOLLAHI GROUPS; ECONOMIC ACTORS; SUPERVISORY NEWSPAPER EXECUTIVES; & EDITORIAL
SELF-CENSORSHIP -- WIDESPREAD PUBLIC MISINFORMATION, DUE TO PROPAGANDA DISSEMINATION & THE SUPPRESSION
OF TRUTHFUL & ACCURATE NEWS REPORTING
FULL STORY:
I was a newspaper journalist in the Islamic Republic, but censorship forced me to blog. My blogging led to my arrest and
eventual departure from my homeland. To comprehend how pervasive censorship is in Iran today and how difficult it is for
Iranians to access a wide range of accurate information about everyday news, it is essential to understand how the Iranian
government censors journalists. Iranian censorship is enforced by six major entities.
INSTRUMENTS OF CENSORSHIP
First, the Supreme National Security Council, charged with defending the country from external enemies, has become
omnipresent not only in matters of national defense, domestic order and internal security, but also in journalism. On a
weekly basis, upon
direct orders from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme National Security Council informs journalists
and newspaper editors of new themes of censorship. Ahead of the March 3, 2008 UN Security Council decision to
sanction the Islamic Republic for its uranium enrichment program, [1] the Supreme National Security Council sent a
letter to newspaper editors and instructed them to respond with articles describing nuclear energy as an Iranian right. [2]
The second group, the Iranian judiciary, acts upon the direct orders of the Supreme Leader. If the Supreme Leader
questions one item, this might lead to the closure of twenty to thirty newspapers. The judiciary might order only
temporary closures, but, in practice, their long duration makes the shutdowns permanent. In addition, security orces
have killed two journalists and imprisoned another seventy. The Intelligence Ministry has imprisoned several hundred
people for interrogations.
Security agencies are a third group that exerts pressure on journalists and newspapers. As a journalist in the Islamic
Republic for twelve years, I was never able to criticize the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). To do so is simply forbidden.
Toward the end of Mohammad Khatami's term (1997-2005) and the beginning of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's
administration (2005-present), the Ministry of Information and Security — Iran's Intelligence Ministry — began to
summon all newspaper journalists to ask them to cooperate with the system. Their message was clear: Those who
cooperate can work; those who do not will go to prison. Those who cooperated with the regime received economic
privileges. Some of my former colleagues chose to accept the regime offers and today hold positions of power.
The Office of the Friday Prayer Leaders is a fourth mechanism of censorship. The Friday prayer leaders exist to provide
the Supreme Leader a representative in every major town and city. They are, in effect, mini-Khameneis. As Khamenei
censors at the national level, so do the various Friday prayer leaders enforce censorship in the provinces. For example,
in November, 2003, Ayatollah Zeinolabedin Ghorbani, the Friday prayer leader of my hometown of Rasht, spoke about a
house that cost $200,000. During the following Friday prayer session, he criticized the system in which workers cannot
afford decent housing. I published a response suggesting that it would be more productive if the system actually helped
workers get decent housing, rather than simply talking about the situation. The same day the article appeared, seven
people attacked and beat me, and the judiciary fined me $1,000, a significant amount in Iran, for insulting the sacred
matters of Islam.
The fifth group consists of the socalled "pressure groups," which many Iranians refer to as Hezbollahi groups. They are
similar to Germany's pre-World War II Brown Shirts, who roughed up anyone deemed an enemy or insufficiently loyal to
the regime. These groups, who attack journalists because of political opinions and writings, are attached to the Basij
resistance force, to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, and to the various security agencies. After I criticized
Ghorbani, I also experienced this firsthand. Vigilantes attacked me and my staff in our newspaper office.
Sixth, beyond external censorship, there are internal pressures that also constrain Iranian journalism. Economic actors
constrain journalism. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has extensive economic interests. [3] Their companies
maintain advertising relationships with newspapers. For example, if an IRGC-owned factory wishes to hire workers, they
will place a notice with the local newspaper. When a newspaper is critical of the regime, however, the IRGC will ban any
company in which it has an interest from advertising in that newspaper, severely curtailing the revenue that paper can
expect. For this reason, most newspapers practice self-censorship.
In the Islamic Republic, newspaper editors do not have the freedom or independence to determine their own publications'
content. The regime approves the newspaper executives who oversee the editors and enforce censorship. In addition,
self-censorship is rife. Many of my colleagues resisted becoming mercenary pens in the hands of others, but they censor
themselves to avoid arrest. Often, the sentences for journalists are severe. But, if they show contrition in prison, they win
early release. If they return to reporting the truth, the state quickly returns them to prison. Many journalists, after receiving
a taste of incarceration, are far more mindful of what and how they write.
INFORMATION GAP
The lack of real journalism hurts the Iranian public by promoting a false sense of international diplomacy. Ahmadinejad,
for example, has said that Iranian discussions with the entire world with regard to Iran's nuclear issues are over, but he
still negotiates with Westerners. The entire world has sanctioned us economically, but few Iranians inside the Islamic
Republic understand the full nuance or effect.
Another example: In 2007, Ahmadinejad visited Gilan to inaugurate a sports stadium. This year, it was announced that the
stadium had opened. What the newspapers could not report, however, was that the stadium had been slated to open
fifteen years ago. Nor could the Iranian papers ever report that a day after Ahmadinejad inaugurated the stadium, it shut
down because it had not yet been completed.
The press also misleads with regard to the economy. After the Supreme Leader said that the Islamic Republic needed to
be self-sufficient with regard to cereals, for example, Ahmadinejad reported that, under his government, Iran had, indeed,
become self-sufficient. Soon after, my wife and I traveled from province to province. In southern Iran — provinces such
as Hormozgan, Bushehr, and Khuzestan — I took pictures of foreign ships importing cereals into Iran. Clearly, neither the
politicians nor the newspapers reported the true situation. As a result, politicians could not implement the proper policies
to enable the agricultural sector to meet real goals, rather than fictional goals.
You might ask if Iranian journalists are asleep. No, we are awake, but in prison. So how can Iranian reporters pursue the
who's, what's, where's, and why's that underpin basic journalism? Many — myself included — started blogging.
Everything that I could not publish in my newspaper, I wrote on my blog. When I started in 2001, the Iranian government
was not too aware of the Internet, and so I got away with straight reporting. But they soon caught on. I was arrested
briefly on August 29, 2004, and, again, the next day. On January 17, 2005, the Revolutionary Court sentenced me to ten
years imprisonment for cooperating with the U.S. government, two years for insulting the Iranian leadership, and two
years for conducting propaganda against the Islamic Republic. Despite the crackdown of which I was one victim and
Ahmadinejad's efforts to shut down blogging, the phenomenon has taken off. When I was arrested, Persian was already
the fourth most popular language for blogging. [4] Today, two million people write blogs in Iran. I firmly believe that the
only group that can counter the demagoguery of the Ahmadinejad government are the bloggers. With the help of their
efforts, censorship in Iran will be crushed.
NOTES:
[1] UNSCR 1803 (2008).
[2] Agahsazi (Tehran), Mar. 3, 2008.
[3] Ali Alfoneh, "How Intertwined Are the Revolutionary Guards in Iran's Economy?" Middle Eastern Outlook, American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C., Oct. 2007.
[4] The Guardian (London), Dec. 20, 2004.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
The Middle East & the Problem of Iran
Political Correctness, Censorship, Thought Control:
Supression of Unacceptable Views & Opinions
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
------------------------------------------
POLITICAL SYSTEMS (POLITICAL REGIMES):
CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY & OTHER POLITICAL REGIMES
Modern Constitutional Democracy:
Fundamental Character & Essential Ingredients
Constitutionalism: The First Essential Ingredient
of Modern Constitutional Democracy
Dictatorship: The Opposite of Constitutionalism
Representative Democracy: The Second Essential Ingredient
of Modern Constitutional Democracy
Direct Democracy & Representative Democracy
Political Culture & Modern Constitutional Democracy
Modern Constitutional Democracy:
Summary & Conclusion
Arash Sigarchi is an Iranian journalist, living in Washington, D.C. He is the recipient of the 2007 Hellman/Hammett award
for writers who have suffered political persecution. He blogs at www.asigarchi.blogspot.com.
Sigarchi, former Editor of Gilan-e Emrooz, was the subject of the Middle East Quarterly's "Dissident Watch"
in the Fall, 2005 issue. He recently received asylum in the United States.
The foregoing article by Sigarchi is adapted from a speech he gave at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington,
D.C., on February 4, 2008.
The article was originally printed in the Middle East Quarterly, Fall, 2008, and can be found on the Internet website
maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks to define and promote American interests in
the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam, working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the
State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing
America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and
countering the Iranian threat. (Article URL: http://www.meforum.org/article/1992)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
October 6, 2008
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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