Suspension of a film weekly review

In a letter addressed to ayatollah Sharoudi, head of magistracy, Reporters sans frontières (Reporters Without Borders - RSF) protested against the suspension of a film weekly review Cinema Jahan. "For two years now, the authorities have been laying into all publication genres: political, student and cinema", declared Robert Ménard, general secretary of the organisation. "We ask you to reconsider your decision", he added. According to the information gathered by RSF, the Iranian justice suspended on January 24 the film weekly review Cinema Jahan (Cinema of the world) upon a charge laid by the courthouse of the province of Teheran. The judge Saïd Mortezavi is prosecuting the newspaper manager for "slanderous publications disturbing public opinion and generating tense and insecure relationships in the world of press", "publications going against proper conduct" and "misuse of woman's representation". On 30 December 2000 already, the editor in chief of a cultural review Cinama-Varzech was arrested and sentenced to four months imprisonment. Reporters sans Frontières reminds that Iran is holding today the infamous record for being the biggest prison for the journalists of the Middle East. Twenty journalists are behind bars. Most of them have not been tried after months of imprisonment. According to the vice-minister of Islamic Culture and Orientation, more than fifty newspapers (among which twenty-four dailies) have been shut down since March 2000 regardless of the student press. Ali Khamenei, Guide of the Islamic Republic, is one of the freedom predators listed around the world by RSF.