Islamic Republic’s Effort to Silence Any Opposing Voices | Arrest of Four Individuals Charged with ‘Insulting’ Qasem Soleimani
While government institutions are making every effort to present a uniform picture of reactions to Qasem Soleimani’s killing, a local website has reported the arrest of four individuals on charges of insulting Qasem Soleimani in Isfahan Province.
Sina News website, citing Amirhossein Razazzadeh, the general and revolutionary prosecutor of Shahreza city, reported that these four individuals were arrested after expressing their views on social media networks. This judicial official also warned other citizens about commenting on social media networks. The authorities have not even stated why these individuals were charged with insult. In the past, even critical comments about the leader of the Islamic Republic were prosecuted under charges of insult.
Several Voice of America audience members also reported receiving threatening text messages asking them to delete their critical messages about Qasem Soleimani from social media networks.
Previously, the editor-in-chief of the news website Khabar Online was also summoned and put under legal prosecution on charges of insulting Qasem Soleimani. This website had used the word “killed” in one of its translated articles from foreign media regarding Qasem Soleimani, which came under severe attack from government media.
Other examples of suppressing voices differing from the official narrative can be seen in the treatment of the representative from Tabriz.
Shahab al-Din Bimaqdar, on Saturday, the 14th of Dey, in response to a question about what the Islamic Republic’s reaction to Qasem Soleimani’s killing should be, said his suggestion was “restraint and negotiations between Iran and America.”
This remark led to an attack on this Member of Parliament’s office, and the pressure placed on him forced him to apologize a day later in an interview with the Islamic Republic’s official news agency.
Source: Voice of America
