Launching Saba Satellite Television Upset Moslems

Meysam Tavvab, Rooz Online:

A few days before the final assault on Saba satellite television station affiliated to a former leader of the Majlis (Iran's Parliament) Mehdi Karoubi, and the newly established Etemad Melli Party (National Trust), Ezatollah Zarghami, the director of the Islamic Republic Broadcasting (IRIB) agency contacted Karoubi and told him that there were concerns at the national leadership level that Saba television would upset the pious (momen). Rooz’s sources report that Karoubi had responded by saying that Saba was not for those Moslems whom Zarghami had in mind but for those who have satellite receivers. READ MORE

Reports have also circulated that in a meeting with Karoubi, Minister of Intelligence Mohseni Ejei warned him that only radical groups such as reform-minded Participation Party, Tahkim Vahadat, Islamic Revolution Mujaheddin Organization and opposition groups had welcomed the launching of his satellite television station, thus putting it in the wrong camp. Such warnings reveal the official government position on the independent television station.

But despite many warnings, the initial activities to launch the private station went ahead until just last week when Saba management officially announced the “temporary” suspension of its activities until further notice. The surprising announcement came a short while after Behrooz Afkhami, the director of the station met with reporters and stressed that only leader's order can stop him from launching the television.

In his letter to Ali Larijani, the chairman of Iran's National Security Council, Afkhami protested the directive to discontinue the activities of Saba and the fact that the Council had called its activities “illegal”. Afkhami sarcastically congratulated Larijani for successfully, albeit temporarily, shutting down Saba, adding that he would file a law suit against his decision.

Afkhami explained that Saba is a news channel aimed created to broadcast news, reports and cover the Persian speaking neighboring countries such as Tajikistan and Afghanistan. In his letter to Larijani, the director of Saba explained that Karoubi had permitted him to announce the temporary suspension of work on the station to protect the safety of its staff and reporters. The letter also criticizes the government's monopoly over television broadcasting and questions his legal reasoning which allows Iranians and foreigners to operate independent television stations from outside Iran, but denies it to those living in the country. Afkhami scorns Larijani's hypocritical stance on foreign broadcasters such as the BBC which has a Persian program and which will soon launch a Persian-language television station, while Iranian nationals are deprived of the same and are in fact even prosecuted for pursuing the same goals.