The head of Iran’s judiciary cautioned the Iranian media about coverage of economic corruption cases, in particular warning against publishing the names of ministers affiliated with the administration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and said that the prosecutor’s office had been given orders to press charges against any outlet that commits an illegal act during its coverage of the corruption cases.

“Some in the media and some officials have started to say that corruption is everywhere,” said Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani Oct. 12. “This is contrary to reality. That newspapers reinforce this is a mistake, and it leads to hopelessness among the people, and this issue is a national security issue.”

Using a pejorative to describe Reformist media, Larijani said, “The chain newspapers print the names of individuals from cases that are still with the prosecutors and write in their headlines that some ministers were caught up in this case.”

He said that information on open cases should not be published early and warned, “I gave the prosecutor’s office orders to monitor these media and to not give up on whatever is against the law and even to issue a summons if necessary.”