TEHRAN Branch 1410 of Tehran's Public Court in a letter to the Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Ataollah Mohajerani ordered the suspension of weekly Tavana (Capable), whose Managing Editor is Iraj Rastegar, it was announced here Saturday.
The court had issued the order per paragraph five of Article 156 of the Constitution and Articles 12 and 13 of the law on preventive measures.
Public Relations Department at Tehran's Justice Department quoted the verdict as saying that the ruling has been issued in pursuit of a complaint lodged by the prosecutor general against Rastegar for 30 cases of violation from Article six of the 1985 Press Law and with regards to insistence of the managing editor of the weekly to publish defamatory articles against officials of the system and organs, especially in the latest issue of the weekly.
The verdict said that in view of the managing editor's defiance of notices and recommendations given by the officials of the system and of the preventive measures adopted by the Justice Department in the case of the violating press, the order for temporary closure of the weekly had been issued.
It added that the publication of the weekly will be prevented until further notice.
According to a statement issued by Tehran's Justice Department, Article 576 of the Islamic Penal Code deems the implementation of the judicial ruling as compulsory.
(IRNA)