Tehran bans state-owned publication for six months

Newspaper associated with Ahmadinejad suspended for ‘false reporting’

2 June 2013, 4:52 pm

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Then-Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks in front of a portrait of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 2012 (AP/Vahid Salemi)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian media say that a court has imposed a six-month publishing ban on a state-owned newspaper for its allegedly false reporting.

The semi-official Mehr news agency reported Sunday the suspension of IRAN, which is under the administration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and is seen to express views close to his. The semi-official Fars also reported the ban.

The agencies did not say which report triggered the ban. Calls to IRAN were not immediately returned.

Conservative hard-liners who control many state institutions have been hammering at Ahmadinejad and his allies ahead of the June election, which decides on the president’s successor.

Ahmadinejad fell out with conservatives in 2011, after he challenged the authority of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters.