Iran: Writers Prevented from Holding Congress for the Third Time

Adnkronos International:

For the third consecutive year, Iranian authorities citing "safety" concerns have prohibited the country's writers from holding their annual congress and elect new Writers Union leaders.

The repeated bans have left the writers' association in the hands of a provisional committee, for the past three years.

“The authorities of the relevant ministries, the minister of culture and that of the intelligence, have said that in the current situation it is not possible to authorise this congress, since the security forces are not in a position to guarantee the safety of the participants," said writer Jahanshah Javid in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI).

“However, we do not understand who could represent a threat to our congress," said Javid. "Probably, they consider our association a threat to the security of the state."