Aseman Closure: Davoud Hermidas-Bavand Tells IranWire he was "Just Reminiscing"

The pro-Rouhani newspaper Aseman was shut down earlier this week, just six days after it was launched. The judiciary did not give specific reasons for its decision, but it is widely believed to be in response to the publication of a report that included an interview with Iranian political scientist Davoud Hermidas-Bavand. In the interview, Hermidas-Bavand spoke of an event 35 years ago, when university professors signed a statement against the Islamic retribution law. When discussing the campaign, he said the academics had referred to the law as “inhuman”.

Hermidas-Bavand told IranWire that he has not read the article and had not been aware of Fars News Agency reports and other media coverage of the closure. “Before you, only one other person contacted me,” he says, “and said that Aseman was shut down because of my interview. As hard as I tried, I could not remember having said anything that would lead to the closure of Aseman.”

“I just quoted something from 35 years ago,” he explains, “and I repeat it: 35 years ago, 12 university professors signed a statement about the retribution law and they were dismissed by the order of Ayatollah Khomeini.” Regarding the phrase “inhuman legislation”, he insists that “it was the term used by the signatories. I was just relating the story and quoted them.”

Aseman’s report, about Iranian political science professors and students in the 1980s, was published on Tuesday, February 18th. As part of the article, the paper asked Hermidas-Bavand to recall his experience of that particular time in history. After the article was published, hardliner media and news agencies called for the arrest and trial of Aseman’s managers. Following interviews with grand ayatollahs and other religious figures, who all emphasized the validity of the retribution law because it is based on the text of Quran, the chief of the Culture and Media Court issued a warrant against Aseman and demanded that it cease publication.

Tasnim news agency, a website close to hardliners, called the report “an insult to Islam”. An hour later, it reported that Aseman’s managing editor, Abbas Bozorgmehr, had been summoned to Evin prison, even though he had apologized for the article. He said in a statement that he had removed the section about retribution, “but the technical department inadvertently sent the unedited version to be printed. Considering that we are just publishing our first issues...this should be an understandable mistake. Unfortunately, however, other media added fuel to the fire. Some used it to get rid of the competition.” The fact is, he added, “I was against that statement [about the retribution law] when it was issued” originally.

Hermidas-Bavand said he was "really sorry”  that Aseman’s managing editor received a summons “But I was just reminiscing,” he added.

“Do you think I can get hold of a copy?” he asked before saying goodbye. “You know, I have yet to see the report.”