Simultaneously with the Iranian presidential election campaign and the ongoing judicial and security actions against journalists and media, the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against the newspaper *Jahan-e Sanat* and opened a judicial case against its chief editor.
The *Mizan* news agency, affiliated with the judiciary, published this news on July 2, 2024, stating: “Following the publication of an article in *Jahan-e Sanat* newspaper regarding the election results, the chief editor of this newspaper received a warning from the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office.” The news agency further stated: “The judicial case of this newspaper will be investigated in this regard.” *Mizan’s* additional explanation of the warning to *Jahan-e Sanat* means that the prosecutor filed charges against this newspaper and opened a judicial case against its chief editor.
It appears that due to widespread extralegal actions against media and journalists and the resulting negative connotations associated with terms like “indictment” and “judicial case formation” in the public’s mind, the judiciary is attempting to replace these legal terms with less negatively charged terms such as “warning,” without making any changes to the level of suppression or legal processes.
“Warning” has been a frequently used keyword in recent weeks, coinciding with the ongoing election campaign in the first round of the presidential election. The Committee for Monitoring and Observing Electoral Media Violations previously announced that it would issue warnings to 17 newspapers, news agencies, and news websites for what it described as “violations of the Press Law and Presidential Election Law.” It remains unclear whether the Committee’s warnings to the media mean threats of judicial case formation or similar judicial actions as seen with *Jahan-e Sanat*.
According to the latest monthly report published by the Defense of Free Flow of Information (DeFFI) organization, in June, during the 14th presidential election campaign, security and judicial actions against Iranian media increased ninefold compared to the previous month. This marked the most extensive media suppression in a single month since the beginning of 2024.