Mohsen Asgari reports from Tehran:
Iran’s judiciary on Wednesday night shut down two reformist dailies that had published long extracts from a letter by parliamentary deputies criticising Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader.
The judiciary also ordered internet service providers to filter three websites of reformist organisations.
The moves come on the eve of the Islamic republic’s seventh parliamentary election.
The report goes on to say that the deputies’ letter violates a taboo against criticizing the leader, whose authority derives from God; but that the move against these newspapers and websites also reflects ‘concern over coverage of the election, and especially the sensitive issue of voter turnout’.
Last week Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said:
Today the country enjoys a total freedom of expression.