AP Rescuers at work at a house that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Zahrani village in southern Lebanon on Saturday.
It would punish policy or legislative proposals made under the direction of foreign intelligence services if they harm Iran’s security or independence, with prison terms of up to 30 years.
Osman Salari, a member of parliament’s judicial and legal commission, said the individual provisions of the bill, which is aimed at countering foreign intelligence influence, have yet to be debated and approved. Reports about the bill’s details should not yet be considered final, Salari told the Mizan news agency. Interviews with other foreign media would require notification to the intelligence ministry, while contact with foreign embassies, offices of foreign organisations or other non-Iranian institutions without notification and written permission from the foreign ministry would be punishable by a fine and deprivation of certain social rights. The proposed law would also harden penalties for economic crimes committed under the direction or supervision of foreigners and would ban providing information to foreigners without intelligence ministry approval. Cases would be heard by Revolutionary Courts. Once parliament approves the final text, it will have to be reviewed by the Guardian Council before becoming law.
DUBAI: Iran’s parliament approved on Sunday the general principles of a bill that would criminalise interviews and other communications with media deemed hostile to the Islamic Republic, including US or Israeli media and outlets financed by either country, Iran’s Shargh newspaper reported.