Iran Bans paper for 'I am Charlie' headline

Iran has banned a reformist newspaper for publishing on its front page the headline "I am Charlie", state news agency IRNA reported Saturday.

Mardom-e Emrouz published the slogan next to a picture of Hollywood star George Clooney who had said it at the weekend's Golden Globes.

The words have come to symbolise the fight for freedom of expression after a January 7 deadly attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

"The court in charge of cultural affairs and the media imposed the ban on the newspaper for publishing a headline and a picture which it deemed insulting," Mardom-e Emrouz director Ahmad Sattari told IRNA.

Its chief editor Mohammad Ghouchani also said the paper was banned "for having published something linked to Charlie Hebdo," according to the news website nasimonline.ir.

Credit:AFP