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The Iranian regime are hypocrites over internet censorship

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NCRI – The Iranian regime’s President, Hassan Rouhani, criticized censorship of the internet on the same day that his regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) ordered audio footage which proves the involvement of high-ranking Iranian officials in the 1988 massacre of political prisoners be removed from the website that leaked it.

On August 10, the regime-affiliated Fars News Agency quoted Rouhani as saying: “Can we say that cyberspace, digital world, and social networking are prohibited and must be filtered? Can we live with filtering and bans in today’s world?”

On the same day, his government’s Intelligence Ministry ordered relatives of Hossein-Ali Montazeri to remove a newly-published audio file from his website in which the former Khomeini heir acknowledges that top officials of the mullahs’ regime took part in the great “crime against humanity.” More than 30,000 political prisoners, primarily affiliated to the main opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK), were summarily and extra-judicially executed in the space of a few weeks in the summer of 1988.

Iran is subject to much “internet filtering,” which is censorship by another name. Ironically, however, many regime members in Iran, including Rouhani and the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, use the social network, Twitter, breaking their own filtering law.

The online censorship policy was adopted following the 2009 nationwide uprising which took the regime by storm. Social networks like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are heavily filtered in order to prevent opposition voices from being shared.

Freedom House, in its most recent report on press freedom, said that press freedom decreases in countries with oppressive rulers and that Iran is in the top ten worst countries for freedom of the press.

In May, the Iranian regime’s Attorney General expressed concern about the impact of online social networks, warning that the intention behind these networks is to harm the regime.

Mohammad-Jafar Montazeri, the mullahs’ infamous Attorney General, in a meeting on May 29 with members of the state media expressed concern about the spread of social networks.

“Unfortunately, the current situation is caused by activities of immoral people who are also the enemy of humanity. These people have set goals and plan to harm the Islamic Republic of Iran,” said Mohammad-Jafar Montazeri, who is not related to Hossein-Ali Montazeri. His remarks were carried by the website of the official state broadcaster IRIB.

He added: “Unfortunately, the cyberspace is so poisoned and infected. We are constantly monitoring it, and each week we have to tackle hundreds and perhaps even thousands of centers of corruption.”

“There is much to talk about regarding cyberspace. The Supreme Leader [Ali Khamenei] in his recent remarks was critical of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace and the Ministry of Communications. Fortunately, his warnings were made public and are bearing fruit. Yesterday in a meeting with the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, some suggestions were made in order to sort out and organize the social systems and we hope the changes will be implemented soon.”

Laying the groundwork for a further clampdown on social networking sites, the mullahs’ Attorney General added: “As the Attorney General’s Office is the head of the committee responsible for clarifying what constitutes criminal activity, we will hold fortnightly meetings with relevant bodies on this matter.”

A day earlier, Iran’s fundamentalist regime set a one-year deadline for international social media, in particular Telegram, to hand over data on their Iranian users.

The decision was taken at a session of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, a committee on the use of cyberspace headed by the mullahs’ President Hassan Rouhani that serves as the regime’s IT regulator.

The Mehr news agency, affiliated to the regime’s notorious Intelligence Ministry, reported on May 29: “At a meeting of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, chaired by President Hassan Rouhani, it was decided that all foreign social media active in the country must within one year transfer to Iran all the data they hold [on Iranian citizens].”

In a separate report, Mehr said that Telegram, an instant messaging app with more than 20 million users in Iran, would have to provide all its data on Iranian users if it wants to continue to operate in Iran.

“Based on a directive approved last night at the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, foreign social media active in the country must transfer to Iran all the data they hold on Iranian citizens in order be able to continue their operations. Therefore Telegram must hand over to Iran its data on Iranian users,” it said.

The report added that more than 80 percent of the world’s Telegram users are based in Iran.

The official state news agency IRNA said the committee had also decided to work to develop homegrown social media to compete with foreign networks.

Authorities in Iran, where Facebook and Twitter are officially banned although users can gain access with easily available software, have for years tried to impose curbs on Iranians using social media.