The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamene'i, has called for the destruction of those in the media who criticise the country's laws on vengeance and the death penalty.

In a speech broadcast by Iranian radio, Ayatollah Khamene'i said anyone who attacked the dictates of religion, including Islamic retribution, was an apostate and must be destroyed. He said newspapers that questioned the commands of Islam were creating what he called mental insecurity, which he likened to military insecurity on the country's borders. The Iranian newspaper, Neshat, published an article last week that stressed the need to get rid of all forms of violence, including capital punishment.

Some conservatives critics saw the article as an attack on the laws of Islam.