Mard-i Imruz (Persian: مرد امروز, lit.'The Man of Today') was a Persian language weekly newspaper which was in circulation between 1942 and 1948. It was based in Tehran, Iran. The paper was among the opposition publications of the period.

Mard-i Imruz
TypeWeekly newspaper
Owner(s)Mohammad Masud
Founded20 August 1942
LanguagePersian
Ceased publication14 February 1948
HeadquartersTehran
CountryIran

History and profile edit

Mard-i Imruz was established by Mohammad Masud who was the license holder,[1] and the first issue appeared on 20 August 1942.[2] The paper was headquartered in Tehran.[2] It was subject to frequent bans due to its critical approach towards the Iranian government and its tendency to make blackmail to the rich.[1][3] One of the contributors was Hossein Fatemi, future foreign minister.[4] Political cartoons were regularly used in the paper to express its opposition to the authorities.[5]

In 1943 Mard-i Imruz was made the official organ of the Paikar Party and involved in the establishment of the Independent Front in 1944.[1] Next year in October the license of the paper was revoked which was renewed in April 1946.[1] Then the paper stopped its attacks against the authorities until March 1947 when the harsh criticisms of the paper appeared again.[1] Then Masud was arrested, and Mard-i Imruz was closed down for two weeks.[1] In October 1947 Masud publicly argued in the paper that Prime Minister Ahmad Qavam should be murdered due to the oil concession deal with the Soviet Union.[1] The paper ceased publication on 14 February 1948[2] the day after the assassination of Mohammad Masud.[5]

Legacy edit

Hossein Fatemi launched his daily newspaper, Bakhtar-e Emruz, to succeed Mard-i Imruz.[4]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Laurence Paul Elwell-Sutton (1968). "The Iranian Press, 1941-1947". Iran. 6: 97. doi:10.2307/4299603. JSTOR 4299603.
  2. ^ a b c "Mard-I Imruz". Library of Congress. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  3. ^ Homa Katouzian (2008). "Private Parts and Public Discourses in Modern Iran". Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. 28 (2): 290. doi:10.1215/1089201x-2008-006. S2CID 145371925.
  4. ^ a b Ebrahim Norouzi (25 April 2008). "Dr. Hossein Fatemi Biography". The Mossadegh Project. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  5. ^ a b Camron Michael Amin (August 2001). "Selling and Saving "Mother Iran": Gender and the Iranian Press in the 1940s". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 33 (3): 337–338. doi:10.1017/S0020743801003014. PMID 18159657. S2CID 6159141.