Iran's reform movement was in turmoil yesterday after supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shocked the parliament he newly controls by banning any repeal of the country's tough press laws.
Deputies from the broad coalition behind President Mohammad Khatami were meeting well into the evening to respond after Ayatollah Khamenei issued the order, which sparked a brawl on the floor of parliament.
Parliamentary speaker Mr Mehdi Karubi was to have opened a debate on reversing harsh press restrictions put in place by the outgoing conservative-led parliament in May.
Instead, he stunned the chamber by reading aloud a directive from Ayatollah Khamenei forbidding any debate on the press code and ruling out any modification as "not in the interest of the regime".
Ayatollah Khamenei said his aim was to keep the press, which initially abounded with reformist commentary after Mr Khatami's 1997 election, from falling into the hands of "the enemies of Islam, the revolution and the regime".
Furious pro-reform MPs and members of the conservative minority scuffled on the floor of the parliament for several minutes before order was restored. Several other deputies stormed out in protest.
Mr Karubi brought the session under control with a reminder that Ayatollah Khamenei's decree was in line with the constitution, which gives the supreme leader almost total power over matters of state.
The directive dealt a severe blow to hopes of resurrecting the reform press, most of which was banned in the past few months.
After the reformist victory in February's parliamentary elections, which ousted the longstanding right wing majority, the conservative courts have closed 22 newspapers and jailed several journalists and allies of Mr Khatami.
Under Mr Khatami's tenure, newspapers began to take unprecedented liberties in criticising the regime, sparking a new and lively debate accompanied by an easing of social and cultural restrictions.
They also served to broaden Mr Khatami's popular support, a tangible sign of the reforms he had pledged to deliver when he swept to office with almost 70 per cent of the vote.
But the free-spirited and sometimes virulent attacks, many citing unnamed sources, aroused the wrath of conservatives. The closure of a popular pro-Mr Khatami daily set off six days of bloody riots last year which left three people dead, according to official figures, the worst unrest since the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The crackdown has been unrelenting, with yet another reformist editor ordered to prison and another provincial paper closed for offending Islam, according to reports yesterday.
A spokesman for the Islamic Iran Participation Front, the largest pro-reform party which is headed by the president's brother, Mr Mohammad-Reza, said deputies were meeting to address the crisis.
Michael Jansen adds:
Ayatollah Khamenei's order was his first intervention in parliamentary business. He can be expected to do so again because this, the sixth majlis, is the first to be dominated by reformists. The law was adopted last year by the outgoing conservative-dominated assembly in anticipation of the reformist victory in this year's elections.
The ayatollah's aim is to deny the majlis the means to promote its reform programme and criticise the conservatives who still control the judiciary, armed forces and wealthy charitable foundations, which account for 20 per cent of economic activity.
Since President Khatami took office, the press has been the main battleground between the two factions. The satirical weekly, Tavana, was shut down at the weekend for publishing caricatures deemed to be "insulting" to senior officials. Seven journalists have also been jailed. Also at the weekend, an outspoken liberal cleric and writer, Mr Hassan Yousefi Eshkevari, was detained on his return to Tehran after attending a conference in Berlin.
These reverses partially countered last week's significant advances for the reformists. For the first time since the Islamic revolution in 1979, a woman, Ms Rahmat Ruhani Sarvestani, was named governor of a district, that of Sarvestan, near Shiraz.
Paramilitary training was made compulsory for girls at school. The course, which includes self-defence, urban combat and first aid, will put girls - 60 per cent of the school population - on a par with boys. And six senior ayatollahs issued the first "fatwa", or religious ruling, in the history of the Shia sect of Islam authorising women to lead prayers in female congregations.