Reporters and staff of the newspaper Iran have called on the head of the judiciary to prosecute the people who attacked their offices last week.
The state newspaper Iran reported today that its staff and reporters have filed a complaint about last Monday’s attack.
Their letter is addressed to Ayatollah Amoli Larijani, the head of the judiciary, and is signed by 193 people.
“The reporters and staff of the newspaper, free from all political discussions, want to announce their complaint against the fiendish actions that have desecrated the media,” the letter says.
The Iran daily staff write that they have every hope that the perpetrators will face justice, which would discourage a similar incident of “insulting behaviour toward media workers.”
A number of reporters and employees who were injured during Monday’s attack have reportedly filed official assault complaints.
On Monday, security forces attacked the offices of the Iran daily, where Ali Akbar Javanfekr, Mahmoud Ahamdinejad’s senior press aide, was giving a press conference.
The attack led to altercations between the newspaper staff and the security forces, and 40 people were arrested, including the director of Iran daily, Masib Naimi.
Javanfekr was reportedly handcuffed and only released after the direct intervention of the president.
Javanfekr, who has been sentenced to one year in prison for publishing a controversial Khatoon issue about the place of women in Islam, has been once again indicted for “publishing falsehoods and spreading rumours in order to provoke public perceptions against government and judicial officials.”
He is also charged with “resisting judicial orders” on Monday.
Javanfekr, who is also the head of the IRNA state news agency, challenged the credibility of the 15 lawsuits that have been filed against him in the past six months.
