Iran bans celebrity magazines
Iran’s culture ministry yesterday closed down nine lifestyle magazines, claiming they used ‘photos of artists, especially foreign corrupt film stars, as instruments to arouse desire’.
Magazine editor detained in Iran
An Afghan magazine editor has been detained in Iran and continues to be held without charge. Ali Muhahiq Nasab, editor of the monthly Haqoq-e-Zan (Women’s Rights), was apparently detained by Iranian officials on 4 March in Qumm, near Tehran.
Iran: website editor arrested
Hassan Nobakhtian, the editor of conservative website Nosaki, was arrested on 25 February, despite having had no complaints brought against him.
Iran: leading women’s magazine shut down
Iran’s Commission for Press Authorisation and Surveillance has suspended feminist monthly Zanan (Women) for “publishing information detrimental to society’s psychological tranquillity”. Hengameh Golestan reports
Zanan has been published regularly over the last 19 years in Tehran. In the past, Zanan has always shown support to other magazines and newspapers which have been shut down. What has upset Iranian journalists is the fact that Zanan was not only closed, but its authorisation for publishing has been revoked, meaning it is very unlikely it will reopen in the future.
This short statement was made on writer Asieh Amini’s blog a few hours after the closure of Zanan magazine.
“I have worked for many newspapers that have been closed down by the authorities — my wedding day actually coincided with the day that Roznameh Zan [a women’s journal] was shut down — but none of these closures angered me as much as the closure of Zanan magazine.