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Iran’s judicial authorities on Monday reportedly banned a newspaper for publishing a front-page graphic that appeared to show Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s hand drawing the poverty line in the Islamic Republic, The Associated Press reported, citing Iranian media.

The semiofficial Mehr news agency said Iran’s media supervisory body shut down the daily newspaper Kelid after it published a front-page article titled “Millions of Iranians Living under Poverty Line” on Saturday.

Under the headline, the graphic showed a person’s left hand holding a pen and drawing a red line across the page as silhouettes of people underneath are reaching up to the line.

The graphic resembled an earlier image of Khamenei writing on a piece of paper with his left hand, a prominent ring on one of his fingers.

The Young Journalists Club, a group associated with state television, earlier reported that censors were examining the newspaper in the wake of the publication. The state-run IRNA news agency acknowledged Kelid had been shut down, without explaining the reason for the decision.

Iran is notorious for the limitations it imposes on freedom of expression.

In 2019, Iranian authorities shut down a reformist magazine that had urged negotiations with the United States.

A year ago, Iran shut down a newspaper after it quoted a former member of the national coronavirus taskforce as saying the country's tolls from the epidemic could be 20 times higher than official figures.

In addition to shutting down media outlets that are deemed to be undermining the regime, the country also blocks access to numerous websites, including Facebook and Twitter.