Sheehan Alert !!

A number of women's rights activists have been arrested in recent months, accused of undermining national security

No, it's not in Berkeley

Iran's mullah regime has said there are signs of a "creeping coup," in the media, after it banned a pro-reform newspaper and a news agency. Tehran now interprets any criticism of its failure to improve the economy as proof of a US-inspired plot.

Iran's culture ministry has accused the press of fostering a creeping coup, just days after banning a newspaper and a news agency critical of the government. The tougher line on media criticism comes amid growing public unrest over fuel rationing and energy price increases. International moves to impose even tougher sanctions on Tehran are also putting pressure on Tehran. Ham Mihan, a pro-reform newspaper, and the ILNA online news agency were both shut down by the authorities last Tuesday. The reformist and liberal press has been criticizing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for failing to deliver on his electoral promise to improve the economy but the regime is interpreting any negative press as proof of a plot. "There are some signs of a creeping coup in the press," Culture Minister Hossein Saffar Harandi said on Saturday. Speaking to the Iranian news agency ISNA, he said that meant "a person moving within a framework of action to overthrow (the system)." The government has accused the United States of using intellectuals and activists to undermine the Islamic Republic and engender a "soft revolution." President Ahmadinejad is now reported to have set up a special unit to counter "black propaganda against the government." And Iran even launched its own English-language news channel, Press TV, last week in a bid to break what it called the West's "stranglehold" over the world's media. Mohammad Jafar Behdad, Ahmadinejad's communications advisor, told the Shargh newspaper this weekend that "the daily plots against the government plans and actions have turned into direct insults and mockery of the president." And the president's press officer, Ali Akbar Javanfekr, told the same paper: "As long as some publications serve the agenda of parties and power-seeking groups, relevant authorities should intervene." Journalists are under intense pressure not to step out of line in an increasingly intolerant Iran. Since 2000 Iran's Press Supervisory Board and judiciary have closed down more than 100 publications, although many simply reopened or changed names. Observers see this as part of a wider squeeze on intellectuals, feminists, trade unionists and pro-reform students. Four Iranian-Americans are currently under arrest, charged with spying after being identified as part of a US-led plot aimed at toppling the mullah regime. A number of women's rights activists have been arrested in recent months, accused of undermining national security.

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