Iran: Book Censorship The Rule, Not The Exception

[Greyweather]

http://www.rferl.org/content/article/...

From the moment that Islamic Culture and Guidance Minister Mohammad Hossein Saffar-Harandi took office in 2005, the list of prohibited books in Iran started growing.

A quick look at the books on the list confirms that there has been an increase in the intensity and recklessness of censorship in all areas.

The wide range of the banned literature includes Persian classical literature and gnosticism, a wide array of academic university books, some of the best-known world literature, and books illustrating a number of famous people from the Islamic world.

In the two years since Harrandi took office, more than 70 percent of previously published books have been banned from being republished, even though each and every one of those books had initially been given permission from the pre-Harrandi Culture Ministry to be published the first time.

[Greyweather]

Iran's Kafkaesque Book Censorship

http://www.rferl.org/content/iran-cen...

What it is like for authors in Iran to try to get their work past censors?

Writers, translators, and publishers in Iran have to navigate a bureaucratic labyrinth in order to see their writings published.

All books are submitted to the Culture Ministry for review by censors who make sure they conform to written and unwritten rules and principles -- and the censors' own interpretations of those rules.

Books that are deemed anti-Islamic, immoral, or against Iran's security are banned outright. Other books have problematic words or whole chapters cut out. Books can also be banned years after being published.

Books are read by one or more censors. Those in charge of censorship reportedly use software to search for banned words such as references to female body parts. The review process and back-and-forth between censors and the authors and publishers can take weeks, months, or even years.