The editor in chief of Rojhalat, the Kurdish-Farsi weekly, has announced in recent days that the paper’s license has been revoked. This paper which was initially banned in Mehr 1385 (Oct 2006), was allowed to re-print again in Nov 2008 by the decision of the country’s Highest Court. The dedicated staff of Rojhalat managed to reprint the paper fortnightly in the Kurdish provinces. However, in the wake of the publication of the fifth issue of the new edition, the committee of the Cultural Ministry which overlooks the conduct of the press withdrew the license.Officially the reason for revoking the license of Rojhalat weekly has been stated, according to a clause of the section 11 of the press law, as the termination of conditions under which the license was granted for the license-holder and the head of the publication. However, as it has been stated to the press by the management of this Kurdish-Farsi publication, the withdrawal of the license is a continuation of the general policy of the current government in eliminating the critical and independent publications which also eradicates the hope of republishing them in the future. The Kurdistan Human Rights Organization would like to congratulate the management and the staff of Rojhalat weekly who tried really hard to strengthen one of the main pillars of democracy in the Kurdish region. The Organization also acknowledges the hard work of the staff in bringing out regularly five issues considering the security environment which engulfs Kurdistan. The Kurdistan Human Rights Organization protests the closure of Rojhalat publication and demands that the ban to be lifted by the authorities and allow the weekly to be republished again.17/01/2009