1. For good measure, the reformist newspaper Hambastegi was shut down Wednesday. 2. For good measure, the judiciary shuttered yet another reformist newspaper Wednesday. 3. In the last several months, the government has closed the reformist newspapers that supported the moderate president, Mohammad Khatami. 4. In this climate, the reformist newspapers operate in a minefield. 5. Last July, thousands of students rioted at Tehran University in protest of a Revolutionary Court decision to ban a reformist newspaper, fanning fears of greater civil strife. 6. Since the closure of most reformist newspapers, leaders of the pro-Khatami camp have pleaded for public calm in the face of the crackdown by conservatives. 7. This week, a provincial journal, Cheshmeh Ardebil, was shut, and Ahamd Zeidabadi, a journalist with a reformist newspaper, was arrested. 8. Only four reformist newspapers -- Akhbar-e-Eqtesad, Sobh-e-Emrooz, Mosharekat and Bayan -- were in print Monday. 9. Only two reformist newspapers -- Mosharekat and Bayan -- escaped the ban. 10. Protests and riots erupted in July in Tehran and several other cities when hard-liners closed a single reformist newspaper. |