Country’s Chief Prosecutor: Every Mobile Phone is a Channel Controlled by the Enemy

Mohammad Jafar Montazeri described mobile phones as a tool used “against the Islamic Republic”. He therefore emphasized the necessity of internet filtering. This comes as officials have yet to reach clarity and agreement on filtering.

Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, the country’s chief prosecutor, on Thursday, February 1st (January 31st), called internet filtering a “national need and a form of commanding good and forbidding evil,” saying: “Filtering must be constant so that youth do not become corrupted.”

Montazeri, stating that “the enemy has launched a cultural war in cyberspace,” said that “we must prevent youth from going to the slaughterhouse.”

He described each mobile phone as “a channel controlled by the enemy” that “is easily available in the hands of various groups and constantly operates against the Islamic system.”

Approximately 40 million Iranians use Telegram. Instagram ranks second with slight difference. Many businesses in Iran also depend on internet channels, including Telegram, which has been filtered by court order.

30 million and 100 thousand people bypass Telegram filtering through VPNs. Additionally, between 16,000 to 20,000 Telegram channels are filtered weekly, yet according to the chief prosecutor, this number of filtering “still” is not sufficient.

Following Telegram, Instagram filtering is caught between challenges from the government and judiciary, and although whispers of its filtering are heard, it has not yet been implemented.

The filtering debate continues to be tossed back and forth between its supporters and opponents in Iran, while the triangle of government, conservative representatives, and the Supreme Council of Cyberspace under the judiciary’s supervision have yet to reach agreement on it, to the point where Abdolsamad Khoramabadi, the secretary of the committee determining criminal content criteria, said filtering has become a “joke.”

Rouhani and Communications Minister Disagreement

Reports from media outlets close to the government indicate President Hassan Rouhani’s opposition to filtering and point to “disagreements” between him and Mohammad Javad Zarif, Minister of Communications and Information Technology.

Previously, Javad Karimi Qodoosi, the Mashhad representative in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, quoted Azari-Jahromi as saying that “we will soon filter Instagram.”

However, Azari-Jahromi responded by tweeting that there is no “governmental pressure” on his ministry to filter.

This came as Mahmoud Vaezi, the president’s chief of staff, had previously mentioned “pressures” during his final weeks as minister of communications and information technology to filter Telegram.

Vaezi had also assured that Telegram would not be filtered in Iran, but perhaps the ability to send stickers might be disabled.

“Ultimately We Have to Cut the Power”

Opposition to filtering is also heard from some “loyalist” representatives in parliament. Alireza Biggi, a member of the loyalist representatives’ faction, believes filtering causes the VPN market to heat up. He considers “preventive measures” not only as failing to address today’s conditions but also as depriving “committed” individuals of opportunities.

This representative’s reference is to a speech by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who recently said: “Youth should intelligently turn cyberspace into a tool to strike the enemy in the mouth.”

Jalil Rahimi Jahanbadi, the head of the border residents and Sunni representatives’ faction in parliament, also wrote on his Twitter page in opposition to filtering: “If we want to filter all the world’s messengers, ultimately we have to cut the power.”

The head of parliament’s communications committee, as an opponent of filtering, does not find the “insistence” of some officials on stricter filtering reasonable: “There is no guarantee with filtering that illegitimate ways of accessing cyberspace will not become more widespread among Iranian youth than before.”

Financial Network Behind Filtering?

According to Saeed Shariati, a reformist political activist, internet filtering in Iran has an “extensive financial backdrop” that has been tested in different ways over the past twenty years.

Without providing documentation, Shariati pointed to billion-dollar contracts by the ministries of communications and information, the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, state radio and television, and some other organizations for filtering in Iran.

“The Law is Unclear”

According to law in Iran, the Supreme Council of Cyberspace is the primary decision-making authority for filtering. However, some institutions influence the decision-making process.

Mohammad Kazemi, a member of the committee determining criminal content criteria, considers filtering to be the responsibility of this committee or the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, and notes that the head of the judiciary has now entered the decision-making process. He says: “Given that cyberspace is a new environment, we have not been successful in legislating it and the responsibility is unclear. Meanwhile, the law has assigned duties to each organization; authorities have been delegated to the judiciary, the committee determining criminal content criteria and the Supreme Council of Cyberspace have been given other authorities.”

The committee determining criminal content criteria has not held computer-related meetings for some time, and currently the judiciary decides on internet criminal criteria.

Iran has long been known as one of the enemies of free access by its citizens to the internet. Hardliners in Iran insist on internet filtering and preventing foreign servers from accessing user and organizational information in Iran.

Source: DW