On June 7, 2024, the press court found Mohammad Reza Saadi, the managing director of the newspaper Jahan-e Sanat, and political activist Sadegh Zibakalam guilty. Akbar Nasrollahi, the spokesperson for the jury of political and press courts, informed ILNA news agency that the jury found Saadi guilty of “publishing false information.”
The *Jahan-e San’at* newspaper, in its November 19, 2022 edition, published an article titled “Who Killed Kian?” written by Zibakalam, addressing the controversial killing of a 9-year-old boy named Kian Pirfalak in Izeh. Following the publication of this report, the newspaper was suspended for two weeks by the Press Supervisory Board.
In the article, Zibakalam highlighted the discrepancies between the official narrative and the account provided by Kian’s mother. He questioned the authorities’ claims that the perpetrators were terrorists, suggesting that the mother’s account seemed more credible. He also discussed allegations that some police officers might have used “hallucinogenic substances” to avoid hesitation in shooting civilians.
The court found Zibakalam’s statements, particularly those about the use of hallucinogens by police, to be “false information,” which contributed to the guilty verdict.