The second period: Censorship in the post-Teymurtash era
In the time after the fall of Teymurtash and until the establishment of the Office of Guidance in Writing (Edareh-ye Rahnama-ye Nameh-negari) in the summer of 1316/1937, the Ministry of Education (Vezarat-e Ma’aref) and the Central Police Office (Edareh-ye Koll-e Shahrbani) were responsible for the censorship of the press. On 15 Azar 1312/6 December 1933 the Ministry of Education requested the police to “send strict orders to the editors of all newspapers that from now they should refrain from the publication of news and information on matters concerning culture in both the capital and all provinces without prior reference to and permission from the Ministry of Education.”44
During this era many publications were banned by the Ministry of Education because they had published articles or treated topics that were not consistent with the cultural policies of the time. The magazine Ta‘lim va Tarbiyat (“Teaching and Education”) was interrupted by the Ministry of Education after it had printed an article under the title “Jonbesh-e melli-ye adabi” (The national literary movement) and the same ministry had prohibited the publication of the same article in the newspaper Shahin.45 Following the government’s decision, taken on 9 Khordad 1313/30 May 1934, all ministries and independent agencies were obliged to send all their official announcements to the nazmiyeh “so that the nazmiyeh could distribute them among the printed press in a way which is appropriate.” Consequently the nazmiyeh’s influence on press censorship by far surpassed that of the Ministry of Education and it soon became the sole decision maker.46
The police’s area of authority and control over the press was extended in such a way that many newspapers were banned and closed even after they had published quite trivial and ordinary pieces. As an example, Abolfazl Tahmasebi, the editor of the paper Ostovar-e Qom, had criticized in an article the noise level produced by the power plant of Qom, a factory which belonged to the municipality and thus to a state agency. Following the publication of this article, the police of Qom announced that the newspaper would be closed down for an unlimited period of time.47 After the exchange of many letters and missives between Tahmasebi and leading politicians in Tehran, the prime minister Mahmud Jam made his feelings on the matter clear in a letter addressed to the Central Police Office (shahrbani): “With regard to the ban of the newspaper Ostovar-e Qom it is my opinion that in case the factory is indeed bad for the city, and the newspaper has said so, the fault of the journalist is basically that he has published the article without the prior permission of the authorities; for this fault I believe a ban of one month should suffice.”48 The prime minister’s view on the ban of Ostovar-e Qom shows that the demands and expectations of the censorship system towards the newspapers were so complicated and extensive that the editors actually would have needed a sixth sense to be able to predict whether the material they intended to publish would gain the approval of the Central Police Office or not. The prime minister’s assessment also illuminates another aspect of the press censorship regulations of the time. The publication of any material, however insignificant, that by itself would not merit active censorship could still be dangerous: if the editor of the publication had refused to present an article to the authorities prior to publication, a harsh punishment would await him, in the case of Ostovar-e Qom the ban his newspaper for a whole month.
The unrestrained conduct of the Central Police Office in the field of press censorship is also reflected in a letter from Khalil Now‘i, the editor of Rasht’s paper Ma‘ishat-e melli, to ‘Ali Asghar Hekmat, the minister of education, when he describes the unsafe conditions surrounding writers: “Basically, if you read provincial newspapers, they write under the heading Payment of Salaries ‘the Office of Finance has paid the salaries for the month of Dey.’ And even this does not get approval from the censoring official.” The writer continues: “If we are in fact an inseparable part of the Central Police Office, they can keep all the newspaper’s revenues, but pay us a salary.”49
One of the victims of the censoring system in this era was ‘Ali Dashti, the editor of Shafaq-e sorkh and a member of the ninth Majles (1933-35). He was arrested on 22 Farvardin 1314 (12 April 1935), a day after the end of the parliamentary term and with it his immunity, without any explanation or warning, and after a few days the paper Shafaq-e sorkh was banned.50
‘Ali Dashti, who had been arrested on Reza Shah’s direct orders, spent 59 days in the Qasr prison.51 He was pardoned and released from prison after Hajj Mehdi Qoli Khan Mokhber al-Saltaneh successfully mediated between him and the Shah.52 After his release from prison, Dashti used his pen and tongue to support Reza Shah and tried to use his charm on him. ‘Ali Dashti was appointed as the head of the Office of Guidance in Writing from 1 Mordad 1316 (23 July 1937 onward). His colleagues were ‘Abd al-Rahman Faramarzi, departmental head and specialist on journalism; Abolqasem Payandeh, consultant and specialist on journalism; Mohammad Hejazi, as the editor of the magazine Majalleh-ye nameh-negari; and a censorship agent (sansurchi) by the name of Moharram ‘Alikhan, who was sent on their behalf to inspect printing houses.53
