Members of the jury in the political and press courts, in the first session of the Press Court held in the year 1404 (2025), declared the responsible managers of the newspapers Shargh, Ebtekar, the news website Nabz Bazaar, and the news agency Fars guilty.
According to Akbar Nasrollahi, the spokesman for the jury, “The accusation against Peyman Tirandaz, the responsible manager of the Fars News Agency, was the disclosure of private secrets (publication of national ID card photo) related to the complaint of Mohammad Shajari in the headline ‘Strange Incident in the Futsal Team; Forgery of National Team Player Card.’ The accusation against Mohammad Ali Vakili, the responsible manager of the Ebtekar newspaper, was spreading rumors subject to a complaint from the Deputy Prosecutor, and the accusation against Mohammad Reza Khalili, the responsible manager of Nabz Bazaar, was publishing false information related to the complaint of Reza Kohanjani. The jury, after hearing the defendants’ defenses and reviewing the files, found them guilty but deserving of leniency.”
The spokesman for the Press Court jury also commented on the case against the Shargh newspaper, stating: “Today, the case of the Shargh newspaper was reviewed, and the jury unanimously found its responsible manager, Mehdi Rahmanian, guilty and did not consider him deserving of leniency.”
According to Nasrollahi, the court ruling regarding the charges against the responsible managers of the Shargh, Ebtekar, Nabz Bazaar, and Fars News Agency will be issued subsequently, presided over by Judge Javaheri in Branch One.
As four media outlets were found guilty in the first session of the Press Court held in the new year, it follows a year of wide-scale repression against the press in Iran. According to the annual report by the Defending Free Flow of Information (DeFFI), at least 256 journalists and media outlets were subjected to judicial and security prosecution in Iran in 2024. In this year, prison sentences against 11 journalists were implemented, at least 36 journalists were detained, and journalists and media activists collectively received sentences totaling 69 years and 10 months in prison, 110 lashes, and over 200 million tomans in fines.