Iran said to ban reporting on protest leaders

The New York Times reports that in a further clampdown on Iran’s cowed political opposition, the authorities have issued a ban on any news relating to the leaders of the protest movement that arose after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last year, opposition Web sites reported. A leaked copy of a letter that has appeared on opposition Web sites orders the editors of all domestic newspapers and news agencies to refrain from publishing the names, photographs and statements of two defeated presidential candidates, Mir Hussein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi, as well as former President Mohammad Khatami, because of the “probable negative influence” this would have on the public mind. Officials from the Ministry of Islamic Culture and Guidance did not respond to requests for comment on the letter’s authenticity.