Cleric: Control foreign media

2009-06-26 22:21

Tehran - Hardline Iranian cleric Ahmad Khatami urged the government on Friday to "better control" the foreign media, accusing them of fomenting the protests over this month's presidential election.

He also suggested that anyone who resorted to violence during the demonstrations should be considered a mohareb - someone who fights against God - and face the ultimate sanction.

"The American, the European and the British media have shown their perversity in this story. They added oil to the fire," he said in his sermon at the main weekly Muslim prayers in Tehran which was broadcast nationwide.

"I expect the government to control them. How can they be allowed to wander round the country with their satellite phones giving information that provokes people to take to the streets?"

Iranian authorities have already clamped down on foreign media since the protests erupted over the re-election of incumbent hardline Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a vote his main challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi has described as a "shameful fraud".

Iran expelled BBC correspondent Jon Leyne earlier this week and detained Greek-British journalist Jason Fowden working for the Washington Times.

Canadian-Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari working for US weekly Newsweek has also been detained.

Khatami suggested that any demonstrator who resorted to violence during the protests should face the death penalty.

"Anyone who takes up arms against the people is a mohareb and Islam has prescribed the toughest punishment for such offenders," he said.

At least 17 people have been killed in the unrest that erupted in Tehran over the disputed official results of the June 12 election.

- AFP