Iran: Reformist paper shut down

[Heidi]

Source: CNN

updated 3 hours, 42 minutes ago

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- A newspaper aligned with Iranian reformist Mehdi Karrubi, who recently made headlines for claims that post-election detainees in Iran were raped behind bars, was shut down for running "unlawful" material, state-run media reported Monday.

An investigating judge said the popular newspaper, Etemad-e Melli, was ordered closed for what has been described as "publishing unlawful and criminal material," state-run Press TV reported.

Protesters outside the newspaper offices clashed with police Monday, the network also reported.

On Sunday Masih Alinejad, a reporter and columnist with the paper, told CNN that officers from Iran's judiciary confronted employees of Etemad-e Melli after hours as they were getting the Monday's edition to print.



Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/08/17/iran.crackdown/index.html

[Soylent Brice]

1. K&R

[gtar100]

2. A government that cannot stand up to criticism is brittle.

Sadly, it also means that all important decisions that affect the people are made by short-sighted, self-serving fools. So sad for Iran because the incredible vibrancy of its youth is being suppressed by a bunch of old men. I hope these old men pay the price for their stupidity.

[BOG PERSON]

3. It would be more short-sighted and self-serving to allow the press to publish

whatever nonsense it feels like, in order win the approval western humanitarian-liberal types who will never, ever warm up to the IRI anyway.

It's every sovereign state's prerogative to do what it deems necessary to preserve itself.

[twitomy]

4. Even totalitarian soveriegn states too eh? NT

[BOG PERSON]

5. The IRI isn't totalitarian.

There's no such thing as a totalitarian state.

[twitomy]

6. Your right, its more like a Islamic Thugocracy...

[Posteritatis]

7. Well, hell, that's a blanket defense of just about anything

While I know that the current Manichean perspective on geopolitics DU seems to like boils down to "any country whose government the West dislikes has to be good, therefore any internal critics of that country have to be evil," this kind of any-means-necessary, order-at-all-costs justification is pretty goddamned vile.

Fuck that noise.