Book censorship in Iran

Since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran states regarding freedom of expression: "the press is free to express their opinion, unless it is against the foundation of Islam or rights of the people, and the law will explain the details". (article 24, The Constitution of Islamic Republic of Iran).[1]

The details have been explained, not in legislation of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, but in an act issued by the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, which names the subjects that "do not deserve to be published". For example: Renouncing the fundamentals of religion; promoting corruption; inviting the society to riot against Iran; promoting the ideas of terrorist and illegal groups and corrupted sects; defending monarchy; stimulating conflicts between the various ethnic or religious groups ; creating problems in the unity of the society and the country; mocking and weakening the national pride and nationalistic spirit, and creating an atmosphere of losing national values to the culture and civilization of western or eastern colonizing systems.[2]

Books banned in Iran

This literature-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Title	Author	Type of literature	References and notes
The Satanic Verses	Salman Rushdie	novel
The God Delusion	Richard Dawkins	non-fiction
The Gods Laugh on Mondays	Reza Khoshnazar	novel	[3]
The Monkey Whose Owner Had Died	Sadeq Chubak	short stories	[4]
The Patient Stone	Sadeq Chubak	short stories	[4]
The Mourners of Bayal	Gholam-Hossein Saedi	short stories	[4]
Dandyl	Gholam-Hossein Saedi	short stories	[4]
Fear and Chills	Gholam-Hossein Saedi	short stories	[4]
The Ball	Gholam-Hossein Saedi	short stories	[4]
Censoring an Iranian Love Story	Shahriar Mandanipour	novel	[5]
Her Eyes	Bozorg Alavi	novel	[4]
A Tombstone on a Grave	Jalal Al-e-Ahmad	novel	[4]
Mourning for Qasem	Amir Hossein Cheheltan	novel	[4]
The Man Lost in Dust	Nosrat Rahmani	poetry	[4]
Complete Poems of Ahmad Shamlu	Ahmad Shamlu	poetry	[6]
A Girl with a Silver String	Jamal Mirsadeqi	novel	[4]
Memories of My Melancholy Whores	Gabriel García Márquez		translated into Persian by Kaveh Mirabasi [7]
Scorpion on the Railroad Stairways of Andimeshk, or This Train is Bleeding Sir!	Hossein Mortezaeian Abkenar	novel	[8]
The Ceremonies of Impatience	Yaghub Yadali	short stories	[8]
Social History of Iran	Morteza Ravandi		[8]
The Da Vinci Code	Dan Brown	novel	Translated by Hossin Shahrabi [9]
The Blind Owl	Sadeq Hedayat	novel	[10]
Gay Relations in Iranian Literature	Sirus Shamisa	literary essay	[11]
The Veiled Women and the Armoured Elite	Fatemeh Marnisi	history	[12]
The Zahir (novel)	Paulo Coelho		Translated by Arash Hejazi
The Year Zero	Ardalan Sarafraz	novel	[13]
The Shout of No Shout"	Vida Hajebi		[13]
Lessons to Avoid AIDS			[14]
Poverty and Adultery	Masood Dehnamaki		[15]
Short Stories	Sadeq Hedayat		[16]
Opium	Shiva Arastooi	short stories	[17]
The Book of Jinn	Houshang Golshiri	novel,	[18]
He Learned from Satan and Burnt It	Farkhondeh Aghaii	novel	[19]
Women without Men	Shahrnoosh Parsipour	novel	[20]
The Last Temptation of Christ	Nikos Kazantzakis		[21]
(all books)	Sadeq Hedayat		[22]
Cockcrow	Ebrahim Golestan	short stories	خروس،
The Social Contract or Principles of Political Rights	Jean-Jacques Rousseau		[23]
Towards Destiny	Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani		[24]
Touba and the Meaning of Night	Shahrnush Parsipur	novel	[25]
The Inferno	Dante Alighieri	novel

References

1. Hejazi, Arash, ‘You don’t deserve to be published’ Book Censorship in Iran, LOGOS: The Journal of the World Book Community, Volume 22, Number 1, 2011, pp. 53-62(10), Archived 25 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine doi:10.1163/095796511X562644
2. [1988 Act of the Guidelines to Publish Books, by the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution of Islamic Republic of Iran]
3. [Newsweek, October 1995, page 38]
4. "سانسور کتاب- کارنامه یک وزیر ایرانی". Archived from the original on 14 June 2008. Retrieved 21 June 2008.
5. Kakutani, Michiko (29 June 2009). "Censoring An American Love Story". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
6. "شاملو هم توقيف شد". Bookfiesta literary magazine. Archived from the original on 24 February 2007.
7. خبرگزاری فارس: آخرين رمان «ماركز» توقيف شد
8. "روزنامه کارگزاران: هیچكس پاسخگو نیست". Archived from the original on 1 June 2008. Retrieved 21 June 2008.
9. خبر بی‌بی‌سی در مورد ممنوعیت انتشار کتاب
10. "خبر ممنوعیت انتشار بوف کور". Archived from the original on 8 January 2014. Retrieved 21 June 2008.
11. شاهدبازی در ادبیات فارسی
12. خبر بی‌بی‌سی: جمع آوری 'زنان پرده نشین و نخبگان جوشن پوش
13. "گزارش جمع آوری کتاب در نمایشگاه هجدهم کتاب". Archived from the original on 4 August 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2008.
14. "گزارش جمع آوری کتاب آموزش‌های پیشگیری از ایدز". Archived from the original on 10 August 2010. Retrieved 21 June 2008.
15. گزارش جمع آوری کتاب فقر و فحشا
16. گزارش جمع آوری کتاب زنده به گور از سایت بی بی سی
17. رمان ”افیون” نوشته شیوا ارسطویی از وزارت فرهنگ ارشاد اسلامی مجوز چاپ نگرفت
18. رمان ”جن نامه” نوشته هوشنگ گلشیری از وزارت فرهنگ ارشاد اسلامی مجوز چاپ نگرفت
19. انتشار کتاب فرخنده آقایی ممنوع شد Archived 30 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine
20. گفتگو با شهرنوش پارسی پور
21. مروری بر آثار کازانتزاکیس Archived 23 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine
22. "آيا نام اين نويسنده، انتشار كتاب را متوقف مي‌كند؟". Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2008.
23. "پیدا کردن کتاب ممنوع آسان است". Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2008.
24. "کتاب خاطرات هاشمی رفسنجانی توقیف شد". Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2008.
25. "Touba And The Meaning of Night". Publisher's Weekly. Retrieved 26 November 2013.