The Qanoon newspaper was shut down on Wednesday March 7 by the order of the Tehran prosecutor’s office.
ISNA reports that the news was confirmed by Alireza Nikoyi, the deputy director of Qanoon, who said: “We have received a copy of a letter to the Ministry of Culture saying Qanoon is officially shut down.”
The reason for the ban, according to Nikoyi, has been listed as: “Publishing falsehoods causing public disturbance and material against Islamic principles.”
Earlier, the newspaper’s publishers had said that the Tehran prosecutor “indicted” the daily for reporting that Mohammad Royanian, the former Chief of Fuel Headquarters, had been released on bail.
However, Qanoon only mentioned Royanian’s release by quoting from an article in the Dana newspaper, which wrote on Tuesday March 6 that Royanian had been released on bail of a trillion rials.
Qanoon’s chief editor had denied rumours of the paper’s shutdown, saying it has never published anything that would merit such an action.
Eleven days ago, the Ebtekar daily was shut down for reporting on the dismissal of the head of prisons following controversy over the attack on political prisoners in Ward 350 of Evin Prsion. Ebtekar was reopened three days later.
