Media blackout of reformist former leader, who fell foul of establishment over his support for opposition leaders, comes despite President Rouhani’s promise of greater freedom

Iran’s media has been banned from publishing the name or images of Mohammad Khatami, the country’s reformist former president, according to a senior judicial official.

Although the authorities have taken similar actions against reformers and opposition figures in the past, the latest move is significant because it is happening under the current moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, who had promised greater freedoms.



Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i, the spokesman for Iran’s judiciary, said on Monday that Tehran’s justice department had issued a ruling that prohibits any mentions of Khatami in the Iranian media. Iran’s judicial system, which is dominated by conservatives, operates separately from Rouhani’s government, meaning that the president’s hands are tied when it comes to influencing its decisions.



“There is an order that bans the media from publishing photos or reports about this person,” Mohseni-Eje’i said, referring to Khatami without naming him, according to the semi-official Isna news agency. Isna, too, did not name Khatami in its report of the spokesman’s briefing with Iranian reporters but referred to him as “the leader of the reformist government”.



Khatami has fallen foul of the establishment because of his support for Iran’s opposition leaders and former presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who have been under house arrest since February 2011. Mousavi’s wife, Zahra Rahnavard, also a prominent opposition figure, is under house arrest, too.

It is not the first time the authorities have banned mentions of Khatami in the Iranian media. In 2010, a similar ruling was issued against publishing the names or images of Khatami as well Mousavi, Rahnavard and Karroubi, but restrictions were relaxed around the time of the last presidential elections in 2013.

Khatami backed Rouhani in those elections and his support was crucial in the victory of the moderate cleric. Following Rouhani’s win, Khatami wrote an article for the Guardian in which he urged the west to work with the new president in order to end the standoff over Tehran’s nuclear programme.



Mohseni-Eje’i did not specifically mention whether the new round of censorship also applied to the opposition leaders but it is widely assumed that they are blacklisted too. The Iranian agencies that report any developments in the situation of Mousavi, Karroubi and Rahnavard simply refer to their case as “the issue of house arrest” without publishing their names.

Hardliners have adopted the term “leaders of sedition” in reference to the leaders under house arrest instead of directly mentioning their names. Many hardliners consider Khatami to be a part of that group. Unlike Mousavi and Karroubi, Khatami has not been placed under house arrest but faces other restrictions, including being barred from leaving the country.

All the men have held high-profile jobs in the Islamic republic. Mousavi was prime minister in the 80s, Khatami led a reformist administration between 1997 and 2005, and Karroubi was a speaker of the parliament.



During his presidential campaign, Rouhani said he believed the house arrests of opposition leaders should be lifted but he has done little to address the issue. This February marks four years since Mousavi, Karroubi and Rahnavard were placed under house arrest without being charged or put on trial. A decision to release them rests in the hands of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the ultimate authority in Iran.



Censorship is prohibited under the Islamic republic’s constitution but the country has one of the world’s worst records of press freedom, with dozens of journalists and bloggers currently held behind bars. Mardom-e-Emrooz, a reformist daily, was closed down in January because it had shown solidarity with the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo following the deadly shootings at its offices.