Tehran - Iran's judiciary announced "temporary" bans on three reformist weekly newspapers, raising the total of recently banned publications to more than 30, state radio said yesterday.
The weeklies Sobh-e Omid (Morning of Hope), Mihan (Homeland) and Sepideh-e Zendegi (Dawn of Life) were banned by the Tehran justice department for "press offences", the radio said.
The crackdown on Iran's nascent press freedoms started in late April after supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused the reformist press of being "bases of the enemy".
He later ordered parliament to kill debate on changing Iran's draconian press law, citing "dangers" to religion.