The closure followed the paper's publication of an alleged secret memo by a former intelligence agent, urging authorities to tighten restrictions on the press. Other prominent publications were similarly targeted. A few months later, Neshat editor Mashallah Shamsolvaezin was convicted of forgery and offending Islam in connection with the articles and sentenced to three years in prison. Although reformist papers received the lion's share of harassment, a number of conservative papers also suffered adverse judicial attention. Authorities deployed an array of statutes to prosecute outspoken journalists.
Offenses are punishable by stiff prison sentences and fines.
The controversial draft press bill that Parliament approved in July would, if passed, expand official powers to sanction the press. The draft bill gives conservatives a greater say on the influential Press Supervisory Board, which has the power to close newspapers and send journalists to court. It also empowers exceptional revolutionary courts to try journalists and requires journalists to reveal their sources if taken to court. The judiciary's steady clampdown on the press climaxed with the high-profile trial of former interior minister and vice president and Khatami ally Abdullah Nouri, who was charged by the Special Court for Clergy with religious dissent for articles published in his daily newspaper, Khordad . He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to five years in prison.