An Iranian reformist journalist, Issa Saharkhiz, has been handed a four-year jail term for "publishing lies and libel", the student news agency ISNA reported on Monday. "The court has sentenced Saharkhiz to four years in prison and a five year ban from press activities," a judiciary official, Hossein Hosseinian, was quoted as saying.
"The licenses of his monthly, Aftab (sunshine), and his newspaper Akhbar Eqtesadi (economic news) have been annulled," he added. The two publications had already been suspended by judiciary.
Saharkhiz has 20 days to appeal the verdict. There are 40 daily newspapers publishing in Iran, close to half of which are either reformist or moderate. The Iranian press experienced relative freedom under the rule of reformist former president Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005), but were still subject to repeated clampdowns by the hard-line judiciary through closing of newspapers and jail terms for journalists.