Reporters sans frontires - Iran - 2005 annual report

Reporters sans frontires - Iran - 2005 annual report: "Area : 1,648,200 sq.km.
Population : 68,920,000
Language : Persian
Head of state : Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (Supreme Guide)
Head of government : President Mohammad Khatami

Iran - 2005 annual report
Press freedom shrank daily during 2004 in Iran, one the world's 10 countries most repressive of the media. Countless threats hang over journalists and they are beaten when thrown in jail. The country has for years been the Middle East's biggest prison for journalists.
Since the massive crackdown in 2000 which resulted in the justice ministry closing down nearly 100 reformist newspapers supporting President Mohammad Khatami, the ruling hardliners and mullahs have hammered away at press freedom.
Journalists are threatened or summoned to the justice or intelligence ministries, sometimes unofficially. Many buy their freedom by paying enormous bail that often forces their families into debt or to sell their belongings. Even then, they remain the target of prosecution or under threat of suspended jail sentences.
Parliament has been dominated since 20 February 2004 by the hardliners and President Khatami has effectively yielded power to the country's conservative Supreme Guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Dangerous topics for the media to raise include relations with the United States, nuclear matters, Islam, religion, morals and dissident mullahs. The presidential elections due in mid-2005, as well as rivalry between reformists and hardliners and also within each camp make the political climate very poisonous. Journalists must walk a difficult tightrope between the shifting political divisions. "