Tehran's Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi has rejected reports on closure of the pro-Reformist newspaper Etemad-e Melli (National Confidence).

""Etemad-e Melli has not been shut down,"" said Mortazavi on Monday adding the paper ""was not distributed on Monday following problems in its printing-office.""
Etemad-e Melli's news website, Saham News, said on Monday that the daily has been shut down temporarily by Tehran prosecutor Sunday night.
It quoted defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi's son, Hossein, as saying that the daily was closed following publication of a letter by Karroubi who gave response to the recent insult against him.
Leading opposition figure Karroubi first claimed that he has received reports from former military commanders and other senior officials that post-election male and female prisoners were brutally 'raped' by their jailers to the point of ""physical and mental damage.""
In a letter to the Chairman of Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani on July 29 to, Karroubi urged a probe into the reports.
Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani on Wednesday rejected the reports of 'jail rape' in the aftermath of the country's post-vote unrest as 'shier lies' saying that a 'thorough and comprehensive' inquiry found no cases of sexual abuse.
He however called on Karroubi to present strong evidence to prove his claims.
In reaction to this denial, Karroubi, himself a former Majlis speaker, criticized officials in particular Larijani for rejecting the sexual abuse reports as a lie 'without conducting an investigation' into the issue.
Friday prayer leaders in Tehran, Qom and Mashhad also criticized Karroubi's decision to publicize the claims before investigation.
Senior Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said the defeated candidate must be prosecuted for ""libeling the system"", unless he can prove his allegations.
""If a person libels someone with allegations of sexual abuse, then he deserves to be punished for libel,"" said the cleric.
Under Iranian law, the punishment for libel consists of 80 strokes of the lash.
(Source: Press TV)