(CNN) -- Iranian officials said Sunday that the Middle Eastern nation will create a court focusing on "media crimes," according to state-run media reports, a move that has fueled fears Tehran is further intensifying its crackdown on journalists.
Abbas Zagholi, the head of Iran's Government Employees Court, said the new judicial branch "was necessitated by the special media crimes," according to a report in Khabar, a conservative publication run by backers of parliamentary Speaker and Tehran Mayor Ali Larijani.
"For certain reasons, such as great developments in mass media, the Tehran prosecutor felt the need to create a more independent court to deal with media affairs," Zagholi said.
Omid Memarian, a native Iranian and U.S.-based freelance journalist who said he talks regularly with journalists in Iran, said the new apparatus could spell greater attention, and prosecution, of those who don't mimic Tehranian government positions. CNN
