Joint Statement: Warning from 55 Human Rights Organizations Concerning the ‘Safeguard’ Bill
HRANA News Agency – A coalition of human rights activists in Iran, along with 54 other Iranian, regional, and international human rights and civil society organizations, issued a joint statement warning about the implementation of the “Safeguard” bill and further internet restrictions. In this statement, concern was expressed about the implementation of the “Safeguard” bill, and calls were made to “members of the global community, including governments engaged in bilateral and multilateral negotiations and dialogue with the Islamic Republic of Iran to urge Iranian authorities to comply with their human rights obligations.“
According to HRANA, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists coalition in Iran, fifty-five human rights and civil society organizations—Iranian, regional, and international—issued a joint statement warning about the implementation of the “Safeguard” bill and further internet restrictions.
The statement expressed concern about the implementation of the “Safeguard” bill and called on “members of the global community, including governments engaged in bilateral and multilateral negotiations and dialogue with the Islamic Republic of Iran to urge Iranian authorities to comply with their human rights obligations.“
The statement also noted: “The civil society institutions signing this statement believe that the passage of the “Safeguard bill“ will lead to increasing restrictions on international internet bandwidth in Iran and will also violate the right to privacy and the right to access safe and free internet. One of the concerning aspects of the “Safeguard bill“ is the transfer of control of communication infrastructure and international internet gateways to the armed forces and security agencies.”
The full text of this statement follows:
Collective Warning from Human Rights Organizations Regarding the “Safeguard” Bill
We, a coalition of human rights organizations and civil society institutions, by signing this statement, express our deep concern about the efforts of the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) to pass the general principles of the “Cyberspace Services Regulatory System Plan,” which in its previous versions was called the “Safeguard of Users’ Rights in Cyberspace and Organization of Social Messengers” bill (“Safeguard bill”). If passed, the “Safeguard bill” will violate a broad range of human rights of people in Iran, including the right to freedom of expression and the right to privacy. We demand that Iranian authorities immediately and completely remove the Safeguard bill from the parliamentary agenda. We also call on the global community, especially countries that are directly engaged in negotiations with Iranian authorities, to prioritize the protection and preservation of human rights in Iran and, to that end, call on the Iranian Parliament to immediately cancel the “Safeguard bill.”
At a time when the United Nations Human Rights Council is about to decide on the renewal of the UN Special Rapporteur’s mandate regarding the human rights situation in Iran, the Iranian Parliament, by advancing the “Safeguard bill,” is poised to perpetrate an increasing violation of human rights in Iran. If implemented, the “Safeguard bill” could lead to further restrictions and even a complete cut-off of access to communication services in Iran. There is also concern that the “Safeguard bill” may be used as a tool to conceal other serious human rights violations in Iran.
We welcome the decision of the parliamentary leadership to cancel the passage of the bill’s general principles in the joint Safeguard bill committee. However, the passage of the bill’s general principles in the third session of the joint committee on the 22nd of Esfand, with only 18 votes from parliamentary representatives, is a matter of great concern. The danger of the “Safeguard bill” being passed is imminent and probable. In August 2021, the Parliament agreed to review and pass the “Safeguard bill” based on Article 85 of the Constitution. According to this decision, instead of reviewing the bill in an open parliamentary session through normal procedure, a special committee comprising 24 representatives (requiring a quorum of 18 votes) will review the bill and approve it for a three to five-year pilot implementation. The Parliament’s use of Article 85 in reviewing the bill, as well as the passage of the bill’s general principles in the third session of the joint committee, despite widespread objections inside and outside Iran, reflects the determined will of Iranian authorities to pass this retrograde bill. We remain concerned that the passage and implementation of the “Safeguard bill” in practice depends on the will of a small committee of representatives bent on violating the rights of people across the country.
The “Safeguard” Bill and Concerning Changes in Internet Surveillance and Control
The civil society institutions signing this statement believe that the passage of the “Safeguard bill” will lead to increasing restrictions on international internet bandwidth in Iran and will also violate the right to privacy and the right to access safe and free internet. One of the concerning aspects of the “Safeguard bill” is the transfer of control of communication infrastructure and international internet gateways to the armed forces and security agencies. According to the latest version of the bill, a working group called the “International Gateway Management Working Group” will be established as the supervisory body for internet gateways. These gateways connect Iran to the international internet. This newly established working group will be administered under the supervision of the National Cyberspace Center, which is itself an institution under the direct supervision of the Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In addition to the National Cyberspace Center, the working group will consist of representatives from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Ministry of Intelligence, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the Passive Defense Organization, the Police Force, and the Office of the General Prosecutor.
Delegating oversight of the internet and communication channels to institutions that enjoy absolute immunity and repeatedly commit serious human rights violations will have a dire impact on freedom of expression in Iran. Human rights organizations’ documentation shows that the security forces of the Islamic Republic, including the Revolutionary Guards and the Ministry of Intelligence, have committed serious human rights violations and grave international crimes, including unlawful use of lethal force, widespread arbitrary and extrajudicial detentions, enforced disappearances, and torture and other ill-treatment of detainees and prisoners during the suppression of nationwide protests in 2017, 2018, and November 2019. Alarmingly, the passage of the “Safeguard bill” will further facilitate and make internet shutdowns and online censorship less transparent. We remind that internet shutdowns are not only themselves a violation of human rights, including the right to access information and freedom of expression, but are also a tool in the hands of authorities to facilitate the commission and concealment of other serious human rights violations. A clear example of this policy is the bloody suppression of nationwide protests in November 2019, which took place in the darkness of a nationwide week-long internet shutdown.
Blocking International Social Networks and Internet Services
According to the latest version of the “Safeguard bill,” all foreign technology companies operating in Iran will be required to introduce a legal representative within the country, pay taxes, and cooperate with the Islamic Republic in filtering and online monitoring and surveillance projects. Companies will also be required to store and process “big data and sensitive and vital user data” of Iranian users within the country, and failure to comply with these requirements will result in legal penalties. According to the latest version of the “Safeguard bill,” access to services of companies that do not cooperate with the Islamic Republic’s requests will be restricted using bandwidth reduction techniques, and ultimately the working group determining criminal content (Filtering Committee) can issue orders to completely block online services or social networks. Cooperation of technology companies with these requests will certainly pose serious dangers to all internet users in Iran. In practice, this section of the “Safeguard bill” forces technology companies to choose between having their services’ access restricted or complying with laws that violate users’ right to privacy and freedom of expression in Iran. These requirements are in line with the Islamic Republic’s efforts to establish and deepen the role of the National Information Network (National Internet). The National Information Network is an internet protocol-based network hosted within Iran. This set of requirements and measures places information flow and communication channels under strict government surveillance and censorship and could ultimately lead to Iran’s disconnection from the international internet. If international companies cooperate with the Islamic Republic, international companies and their services (at least in the field of domestic data storage) will become part of the National Information Network; if they do not cooperate, access to these services will be disrupted and in some cases users will be forced to use services available on the National Information Network. The “Safeguard bill” has also introduced new penalties for those who violate its provisions. Article 20 of the “Safeguard bill” criminalizes the production, distribution, reproduction, and offering of filtering circumvention tools (such as VPNs and proxies) and provides for a sixth-degree penalty with a maximum of two years imprisonment. Based on Article 21 of the bill, providing access to the data of Iranian users to unauthorized foreign companies by Iranian internet service providers (ISPs) has been criminalized and can result in a sentence of up to 10 years imprisonment.
Reactions Inside and Outside Iran Opposing the Safeguard Bill
Since the beginning of consideration of the “Safeguard bill,” internet users in Iran, along with businesses and their unions, as well as human rights defenders, digital rights advocates, international human rights organizations, and UN experts have all expressed serious concern about the possibility of its passage. In October 2021, four UN special rapporteurs in a letter to the authorities of the Islamic Republic (OL IRN 29/2021) expressed concern about the “Safeguard bill” and the lack of transparency in its review process in Parliament, and called on Iranian authorities to immediately cancel the bill. Objections and criticism of the “Safeguard bill” and Parliament’s efforts to pass it outside the framework of conventional legislative procedures were not limited to civil activists. By the 22nd of Esfand 1400, 150 parliamentary representatives in a letter to the parliamentary leadership called for the review of the bill and voting in an open parliamentary session instead of the special committee for the “Safeguard bill.”
Members of the global community, including governments engaged in bilateral and multilateral negotiations and dialogue with the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as countries that are members of the UN Human Rights Council, must explicitly demand that Iranian authorities comply with their human rights obligations. Without immediate action, the people of Iran will be in danger of increasing isolation from the world and further human rights violations.
Source: HRANA
