all Iranian people, regardless of their ethnic background, should live under a pluralistic, tolerant, and federal society." Media Newspapers Mohammad Hezbawi (also known as Hezbaee Zadeh), editor of Ahvaz's Persian-language Hamsayeha newspaper, was arrested in September 2005 and later released. The newspaper was banned by the Justice Department in February 2006 under clauses four and five of Article 6 of Iran's press law. Television Although Arabic-language television in Khuzestan is state-owned (like other parts of the country), many people also watch foreign Arabic-language satellite channels. The Qatar-based Al Jazeera news channel was blamed by the Iranian government for its coverage of anti-government protests by Arabs in April 2005. The government also objected to Al Jazeera's interview with a member of the separatist Ahwazi Democratic Popular Front (ADPF), who spoke about "80 years of Iranian occupation in Khuzestan". According to the International Federation of Journalists, the government blamed the media for unrest in the province. Iranian Arab groups have attempted to broadcast to Khuzestan. Their attempts have been frustrated, however, partly due to satellite-dish confiscation in the province. Election results Khuzestan has tended to elect reformists, particularly those campaigning on a pro-minorities platform. Bombings in the region have polarised opinion, with some Khuzestan representatives (such as Ahvaz representative Nasser Soudani) calling for hard-line measures against Arab dissent, which the government says is encouraged by British spies. Presidential elections Khuzestani voters favoured reformist candidate Mehdi Karroubi, a critic of the Guardian Council who finished third nationally, in the first round of the election; Karroubi's share of the provincial vote was twice the national average. Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani finished second in Khuzestan (receiving the highest number of votes nationally), followed by conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (winner of the second round). Elections to Parliament Shabib Jouijari won a by-election for the Ahvaz parliamentary seat in December 2006, with 17.9 percent of the 406,808 votes cast. Elections to the Assembly of Experts Khuzestan has six directly-elected representatives in the 86-member Assembly of Experts, which is normally elected every eight years to 10-year and has the power the select and supervise the Supreme Leader. Khuzestan results in the December 2006 Iranian Assembly of Experts election Municipal elections The 2006 Ahvaz municipal elections were won by reformist and conservative candidates. The previous elections were won by the Islamic Reconciliation Party, which won all but one of the seats. The party appealed to the city's Arab population