OhmyNews International. Every week two publications are shutdown by the Islamic regime, 43 journalists languish in jail

Iranian journalists handcuffed themselves together as a symbol of solidarity against state censorship, at a July 26 gathering at the Association of Journalists in Tehran.

Although government-backed hardliners also tried to disrupt the event, the meeting ended with speeches by Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian lawyer, human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, among other speakers, on the escalation of newspapers closures by the government in recent weeks.

Iranian journalists have staged frequent protests but each time faced raids and arrests. Some of the most recent newspaper bans are due to their oblique references to hunger strikes by political prisoners who allegedly were mistreated by guards.

Earlier this spring, young women journalists banded together with independent women's rights and freedom of speech groups to object to the sexist portrayal of Iranian women on state radio and television productions. Many at the gathering were arrested.

Meanwhile, Said Mortazavi, the hardline prosecutor who is accused of complicity in the murder of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Sahra Kasemi, continued his campaign to shut down one newspaper after another.
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