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Veteran Pro-Reform Iran Journalist Denies Charges In Court
TEHRAN (AFP) - Veteran pro-reform Iranian journalist Massud Behnud denied a battery of serious charges leveled at him in Tehran's press court Wednesday.
The 52-year-old Behnud, a thorn in the side of the clerical regime for his outspoken challenges to items of faith such as the dress code for women, was relaxed in court as he heard the long charge sheet against him.
He was formally charged with a wide range of offences ranging from possessing drugs to harming national security but said his articles had given the nation's youth "hope for a brighter and better future."
He denied ever using the drugs found at his home by police and apologetically rejected other charges, including allegations that he had insulted supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other officials.
At part of the hearing which was held behind closed doors, he told press court judge Said Mortazavi that he was being "tried because of what I have written and not for other things," the state IRNA news agency said.
State television cited Behnud saying: "Reforms are not as easy as I had thought, and I have come to the conclusion that one must respect the people's beliefs and what is sacred for them."
Behnud, a star television journalist under the former imperial regime, was silent long after the 1979 Islamic revolution until taking up his pen again after the 1997 election of reformist President Mohammad Khatami.
He wrote for several pro-reform newspapers that were closed by the conservative courts after a sweeping crackdown launched in April, which saw more than 25 papers and journals shuttered.
The court was shown a videotape of a speech he gave in Canada lambasting the closures, saying, "In Iran, newspapers are closed down just as fast as they are launched."
Among the other charges against him are "cooperating" with BBC radio and selling drugs abroad.
"In most of my articles, I stressed love, kindness and moderation, and denounced hatred and harshness," he told the court.
Behnud is one of more than a dozen leading Iranian journalists, editors and publishers who have been sentenced to prison terms or are in jail awaiting trial.
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