Iran writer held as crackdown goes on

Thousands of Iranians support the crackdown

By Pam O'Toole

A leading independent journalist has been arrested in Iran, in a continuing crackdown on the country's reformist press.

Masud Behnud, who writes mainly for reformist publications, is the second journalist to be detained this week. He was taken to Evin prison in Tehran on Wednesday morning.

He has been well known in Iran since before the Islamic revolution.

Banned: Reformist newspaper Bahar

The circumstances surrounding his arrest are not clear. But it is believed he could be facing up to 85 complaints lodged against him in Tehran's press court.

The complaints are said to have been brought mainly by state prosecutors and the hardline group, Ansar Hezbollah, which supports the conservatives in Iran's ongoing power struggle.

Following the reformists' sweeping victory, led by President Khatami, in parliamentary elections earlier this year, the conservative judiciary succeeded in closing down virtually all of Iran's pro reform newspapers.

This week - apparently emboldened by the Supreme Leader's decision to block parliamentary reform of the harsh press law - the courts banned the last major reformist paper, Bahar.

Blatantly

The move has robbed the reformists of their main tool to communicate with their followers.

And the fact that the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, has come out so blatantly against the revision of the press law - the centrepiece of the reformist parliament's agenda - has severely undermined the Khatami camp.

Reformist MPs are reported to have drafted a letter reaffirming their commitment to continue their agenda for change.

But in the absence of any reformist newspapers to publish it, they say they are going to wait to present it in parliament, in the hope that the conservative-controlled state radio will broadcast details of it live.