Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 27
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Some 772 Iranian journalists have addressed a letter to President Hassan Rouhani, asking to reopen the Journalists Association, Iran's IRNA news agency reported on Jan. 27.
The Association of the Iranian Journalists was shut down shortly after the former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office in 2009 and it has remained closed ever since. The closure was ordered by Tehran's former prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi following a complaint lodged by the intelligence ministry.
"You promised to do your best to reopen the association," the letter reads, adding that "despite some efforts were made by your ministers on the issue in the recent few months but the exact date of reopening is not clear yet."
The Association of Iranian Journalists is an affiliate of the International Federation of Journalists, which strongly condemned the closure.
Despite several indications by the Rouhani`s administration that it would be allowed to reopen, the association has not yet been granted permission.