Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - A news agency in Iran says officials have detained the editor of a daily reformist newspaper after they shut it down on charge of insulting Islam.
The report Thursday by the semi-official ISNA news agency said prosecutors ordered Abbas Bozorgmehr, the editor of Aseman, to Evin prison after they closed the publication.
The prosecutor's office said in a statement that the closure came over the newspaper publishing an interview in which "Islamic retaliation law" was called inhuman. That law allows victim of a crime, his relatives or the prosecutor to demand retaliation.
Aseman had published weekly for two years before becoming a daily last week.
Iran has banned newspapers and jailed journalists in the past, though such measures haven't happened since moderate President Hassan Rouhani took office in August.
(Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
