Arrest of Editor-in-Chief of Critic Website After 'Bail Not Secured'

The editor-in-chief of ArchiNews, Yashar Soltani, was arrested on Saturday, September 17, after failing to provide a bail of 200 million tomans following a summons to the Media Prosecutor's Office due to reports on the transfer of Tehran municipality properties. According to ILNA news agency, Soltani has three complainants against him. His lawyer, Sadegh Kashani, stated that the first complaint pertains to the publication of news about the wedding of Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf's daughter, the mayor of Tehran, at Lavizan Park. ArchiNews had reported that access to the park was restricted days before the wedding on July 9. However, the Tehran municipality denied this report. Additionally, Soltani is being sued for publishing news about the appointment of Mehdi Chamran's son, the head of the Tehran City Council, as the deputy of the Abbasabad Land Redevelopment Company. ArchiNews noted that in 2015, a month before the audit of the Abbasabad Redevelopment Company was discussed in the City Council, senior municipal officials appointed Mohammad Hossein Chamran as the deputy of architecture and urban planning for the company. Mehdi Chamran denied any connection between his son's appointment and the prevention of the audit. According to Soltani's lawyer, the reports on the transfer of Tehran municipality properties constitute the third complaint against him. On September 6, Soltani announced that he had been summoned to court due to a complaint from the City Council head and the mayor of Tehran. The website was subsequently taken offline the following day. On September 14, the Iranian judiciary blocked two news agencies, Moja and Borna, along with several news websites due to 'complaints in judicial authorities.' While Borna was unblocked on September 20, the other websites remain inaccessible. The Iranian judiciary's 'dual approach' to the issue of salary slips and the transfer of municipality properties has drawn criticism from some political figures. For instance, Ahmad Masjed Jamei, a member of the Tehran City Council, stated on September 12 that websites that made serious accusations against the government under the pretext of salary slips were not filtered, and the blocking of ArchiNews would be perceived as a 'dual approach' by public opinion. Sadegh Larijani, the head of the Iranian judiciary, denied any 'dual approach' in issues related to 'astronomical salaries and the municipality case,' claiming that 'foreign counter-revolutionaries are trying to suggest that everyone in the Islamic Republic is corrupt and a thief.' Some Iranian media, including the newspaper Shahrvand, refer to the transfer of municipality properties to its managers, City Council members, and individuals outside this institution, including parliament officials and police managers, as 'astronomical properties.' Based on an image of a letter from the General Inspection Organization, the Tehran municipality illegally sold 200 properties belonging to it at 'unrealistic' and 'very low' prices, with '50 percent' discounts and in '60-month' installments to some managers of this institution and other individuals close to the mayor of Tehran. However, this organization announced on September 13 that the published letter 'does not constitute the final report of the organization.' In this context, another official in the Iranian judiciary warned the media. The Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance stated that judicial authorities have filtered websites and news agencies, and they are not accountable. Amoli Larijani criticized the media regarding the mayor's case. Two news agencies, Moja and Borna, along with several news websites, were blocked. The Attorney General was tasked with 'dealing with media violations' in the municipality property transfer case. Two members of the City Council claimed that the principlists in the council exploited the letter of protest against ArchiNews.