New Websites of the Islamic Republic's Security Circles - 2003-07-04

Some security circles within the country have recently launched news-analysis websites to discredit political and cultural figures who are not aligned with them. Following the closure of the 'Yeh Khabar' website at the beginning of this year, a new website named 'Jostejoo' began operating in early July 2003, publishing articles against prominent figures of the reformist faction and featuring special news from the judiciary and law enforcement. In its first article, Jostejoo accused Behzad Nabavi (the Deputy Speaker of the Iranian Parliament) of being involved in an unsuccessful assassination attempt against President Khatami. Hooman Safari has been introduced as the editor of this site, which has been claimed in some reports to be a former member of the Confederation of Iranian Students abroad, although reports indicate that no one by that name has been a member of the UK branch of the Confederation. Jostejoo has so far published seemingly confidential information about individuals under the guise of accusations against cultural figures, attributing numerous baseless political-security allegations to them. In a surprising move, it accused Alireza Jabari of conspiring to dismantle the Iranian Writers Association, which, according to some officials, is seen as a positive action rather than an accusation. This allegation was attributed to a person named Khashayar Manshizadeh, who claimed to be an early member of the association, against Alireza Jabari and Seyed Ali Salehi. However, investigations into the association's documents show that no one by that name has been a member since its establishment. It is reported that three members of the Iranian Parliament and several journalists and cultural figures have filed lawsuits against the Jostejoo website. Other reports indicate that some accused journalists are part of the editorial board of these types of websites. Journalists who were interrogated by certain security circles have been integrated into the editorial teams of security-related websites after their release. Previously, conservative security circles had labeled journalists who are now part of their websites as leaders of the enemy's cultural invasion.