Payam-e mardom- e Kurdestan shut down

A court in Sanandaj, Iranian Kurdistan banned the weekly Payam-e mardom-e Kurdestan, which has Kurdish and Persian language editions. Editor Mohammad Sadegh Kabovand and three journalists were threatened with arrest for "disturbing public opinion and spreading separatist propaganda". Reporters Without Borders said it was very concerned about this "new crackdown that is looming over the Kurdish-language press" and urged the local authorities to stop harassing the weekly's journalists and to lift the ban. The court ordered the closure of Payam-e mardom-e Kurdestan on 27 June for "spreading separatist ideas and publishing false news". Journalists Ejlal Ghavami, Omid Bighizadeh and Arash Saleh were threatened with arrest. The editor had been previously arrested on 15 June and taken before the court in Sanandaj for the same reasons. He was released on 19 June after putting up bail of 80 millions rials (about 7,500 euros) while awaiting trial. Elsewhere, Bahram Valibeyghi, director of the Kurdish Cultural Institute and editor of the daily Ashti, published in Persian and Kurdish, was arrested on 22 June while on his way to Iraq.