Reza Monsaref, the editor of the Ava-ye Maku (the Call of Maku), confirmed the summon on Tuesday in an interview with IRNA, but said that the charges against him have yet to be announced.

"I have no exact information about the charges, but it seems that the summon is related to a suit brought by the West Azarbaijan police," he said.

The Justice Department of Orumiyeh, the capital city of West Azarbaijan, has given him three days to attend a court to be informed of the charges, Monsaref said.

Ava-ye Maku publishes reports on the city's issues and distributed throughout the West Azarbaijan province.

Iranian courts have closed down scores of newspapers since April last year for publishing lies and provocative stories. Several journalists have also been jailed on various charges.

In December, a press court in the Persian Gulf city of Bandar Abbas sentenced the editor of a local publication to a 18-month suspended jail and a cash fine.

Gholam-Hossein Ataei, the managing editor of the Neda-ye Hormuzgan publication, was given an 18-month jail term, suspended for five years, as well as a fine of 15 million rials ($8,570), he said at the time.