Head of Iranian Kurdish weekly paper arrested

Mohammad Sadigh Kaboudvand drew the ire of the hardline judiciary after publishing articles on jailed Turkish Kurd leader Abdollah Ocalan and Ghazi Mohammad, a historical pro-independence figure behind a breakaway republic in 1945.

The paper's director was currently in jail pending trial, but a member of his editorial staff said he could be freed on bail set at 80 million rials (9,300 dollars).

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The paper, The People's Message, is published in both Kurdish and Farsi and was launched in early 2004.

At least a dozen journalists are currently in jail in the Islamic republic, where authorities have closed down over 100 publications in recent years. Most are close to the pro-reform movement.