Gulbanu ABENOVA
ASTANA, July 8
(THE GLOBE)
The bill �On mass media� has been approved at the meeting of the Parliament Senate of RK on July 8.
It will now be easier for journalists to work, the Minister of Culture, Information and Public Consent announced on July 8 in Astana.
�We abandoned the most significant restrictive measures in respect to the mass media. We also made it possible for journalists to receive information, widened the access and determined the possible actions that editorial staffs could take if they are denied information,� Altynbek Sarsenbaev emphasised.
According to the Minister, now if journalists face obstacles preventing them from their activity, we will institute both administrative and criminal proceedings against functionaries.
The Minister stated that out of 26 articles, 15 ones had been changed during the discussion. �This bill regulates interrelations between the press and the society,� Mr. Sarsenbaev said. In his opinion, Kazakhstan�s press has to consider the example of their Russian colleagues, i.e. to demand the abandonment of VAT from the mass media. Then the mass media will have the freedom of speech and they may become completely independent from sponsors and founders.
As far as the term �erotica� is concerned, supplementation regarding this issue is supposed to be made to the law on culture.
The Minister also stated that a law �On advertisement� will be approved in November to December to cover the advertisement of tobacco and alcohol goods.
�In this bill we managed to save the limited number of hours (from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.) for tobacco and alcohol products at the TV channels,� Mr. Sarsenbaev announced. In addition, the Minister said that after the law �On advertisement� was approved, advertising of tobacco and alcohol products in the streets and bus-stations would be prohibited.
TEHRAN, July 8 (AFP)
Leading reformist newspaper Salam was closed by the Iranian authorities for publishing extracts from a top secret document, the official news agency IRNA reported Thursday.
One of the paper�s managers, Morad Oveysi, was also arrested on Wednesday, editor-in-chief Abbas Abdi said, denouncing the ban as �absolutely illegal.�
The intelligence ministry had complained over an article in Tuesday�s edition of Salam suggesting that tough new press laws being pushed through parliament were inspired by a now disgraced intelligence official, it said.
Salam, a Persian daily close to the reformist government of President Mohammad Khatami, was banned on Wednesday following a �verbal verdict of judicial authorities,� IRNA said.
The Salam article said that Said Emami, whom the authorities blame for a wave of brutal murders of dissidents, had written to his superiors proposing the same sort of press curbs as approved by parliament Wednesday.
Emami committed suicide in a Tehran prison last month while awaiting a certain death sentence for last year�s killings, the authorities said.
The intelligence ministry complained that Salam had published extracts from a document classified as top secret under a �false title� and had omitted certain parts of Emami�s letter �to stir up public opinion.�
Wednesday�s decision was made by the Special Court for Clergy (SCC), a body charged with handling cases involving the country�s Shiite clergy, which IRNA said had compiled �40 files on offences committed by Salam.�
Salam�s director Ayatollah Mohammad Khoeinia, is a senior leftwing clergyman and close Khatami advisor.
Khoeinia, who took part in the US embassy seizure in Tehran after the 1979 Islamic revolution, is also a member of the Expediency Council, a powerful political decision-making body in Iran.
The closure followed parliament�s decision to adopt in principle a sweeping new press law denounced by moderates as a bid to muzzle free speech ahead of next year�s key parliamentary elections.
The bill, set to become law after a detailed examination by MPs in the next few days, would give Iran�s hardline Islamic revolutionary courts jurisdiction over �national security-related� press offences, rather than referring such cases to press courts as in the past.
MOSCOW, July 8 (AFP)
Russia called on Turkey Thursday to halt its offensive against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, foreign ministry spokesman Vladimir Rakhmanin said.
�We demand a stop to this military invasion,� Rakhmanin was quoted by ITAR-TASS as saying.
�All issues must be resolved in strict accordance with the principles and standards of international law.�
Turkish troops launched an offensive into northern Iraq at the weekend to drive out fighters of the Kurdistan Workers� Party (PKK), who have set up bases there.
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