Iran paper again publishes offensive article

Tehran, Mar 8: The conservative Siyasat-e Rouz newspaper, banned last month for printing an article seen as offensive to Iran's Sunni Muslim minority, republished after it said a legal case was dropped.

The watchdog Press Supervisory Board suspended the daily after it published an article on February 1 that the editor said unintentionally offended Sunnis due to a typographical error.

Iran is overwhelmingly Shi'ite Muslim and is governed under a complex system of Islamic government in which top Shi'ite clerics exert a controlling influence.

Most of Iran's Sunni minority also belong to ethnic minorities, so Tehran is wary of any move that could cause religious or ethnic tension. A state-run newspaper was shut for five months last year for a cartoon deemed insulting to Iran's ethnic Azeris.

''After studying charges, the public prosecutor confirmed that no charges against Siyasat-e Rouz were proven and since no one has complained about the case there is no reason for the closure of the paper,'' the daily said on its front page yesterday.

In a February 1 article, Siyassat-e Rouz appeared to criticise Islam's second caliph, Omar, revered by Sunnis. But on February 3 the paper issued a correction saying there had been a typographical error, indicating another figure was the target.

The newspaper's editor also apologised for any offence.

Sunni lawmakers issued a statement saying the paper should not be banned because it swiftly explained the mistake. Sunnis make up about nine per cent of Iran's 70 million people.

Iranian officials have stepped up criticism of the United States for what they say is Washington's attempt to create divisions between Shi'ites and Sunnis inside Iran and the Islamic world.

Reuters