Student Confrontation This Time in Virtual Space; Health Ministry Monitors Student Activity on Social Networks
As student protests have intensified in recent months, the Health Ministry has announced that it will confront students who, according to it, engage in “spreading falsehoods” in cyberspace.
Sima Sadat Lari, Deputy Minister of Culture and Student Affairs at the Iranian Health Ministry, said on Tuesday, November 7, that “if students engage in spreading falsehoods in cyberspace, the violating individual will be dealt with according to the law.”
As an example, she stated that channels operated by student activists, scientific associations, student organizations, associations, and publications that have permits to operate in cyberspace will be reviewed by the responsible authority.
The Deputy Minister of Culture and Student Affairs at the Health Ministry claimed that monitoring students’ virtual activities does not mean “probing into their privacy” and emphasized that “the disciplinary committee can intervene and file a complaint if it observes content in cyberspace that is being republished with the aim of questioning the interests and benefits of the university.”
These recent remarks by this Health Ministry official come at a time when confrontation with student activists in Iran has intensified, and recently, students including “Marzieh Amiri,” “Leila Hosseinzadeh,” “Kasra Nouri,” and “Ruhollah Mardani” have received a total of 70 years in prison sentences.
Last June, Human Rights Watch issued a statement declaring that Iranian authorities had intensified the suppression of protesting students by issuing prison sentences and creating restrictions on peaceful activities.
The U.S. State Department has also repeatedly condemned violent crackdowns and widespread suppression of protesters and regime opponents on various pretexts, as well as the repeated and continuous violation of Iranian citizens’ rights by the country’s ruling regime.
Source: Voice of America
