Sergei Gryzunov, the new head of the Press Committee, informed Itar-Tass on Tuesday that his organization has cancelled the registration of Al-Kods, a Russian-Palestinian paper published in Moscow. The formal pretext for the closure is Article 7 of the law on the press, which prohibits foreign citizens from opening Russian newspapers. Al-Kods' publisher, Shaaban Khafez Shaaban, is a citizen of Jordan.
But the editor of Al-Kods' Russian edition, Vladimir Yakushev, called the action "a glaring case of arbitrary rule."
"This is just an attempt to shut down an opposition newspaper," he said. "They have no legal right to do this."
According to Yakushev, the law on the press specifies that registration may be annulled only by the courts. The Press Committee has tried twice before to close the paper under Article 7, and has twice been defeated in court.
"Now they have decided to just close us down without the courts," he complained. "It's a disgrace."
Alexei Morgun, spokesman for the Press Committee, acknowledged earlier attempts had been made to close the paper down. "Our lawyers have done more research, and have found that we do not need a court determination if the registration was obtained by fraud," he said. According to Morgun, Shaaban did not disclose his citizenship status when filing for registration of Al-Kods in May, 1992.
Morgun denied that the paper was being closed simply because of its opposition stance: "There are many opposition newspapers in Russia, like Pravda, and thank God for them. But Al-Kods goes beyond the bounds of what is acceptable in a civilized country."
Al-Kods' self-proclaimed mission --"combatting Zionism" -- has repeatedly brought it into conflict with the government.
Al-Kods is an international newspaper published in Arabic, English and Russian, with a worldwide circulation of 3 million. The Russian edition, with a circulation of 25,000 to 30,000, is financed entirely by Shaabad, said Yakushev. He added that every issue of the weekly, which has no paid advertising and is sold to distributors for 200 rubles a copy, costs the publisher 3 million rubles.
"We will sue the Press Committee for losses incurred if we cannot publish," he said. "If they are allowed to do this, there can be no freedom of speech in Russia."
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