Dealing with students this time in cyberspace; Ministry of Health monitors students' activity on social networks
While the crackdown on student protests has intensified in recent months, this time the Ministry of Health announced that it will deal with students who, they say, "spread lies" in cyberspace.
Sima Sadat Lari, Deputy Minister of Culture and Students at the Iranian Ministry of Health, told IRNA on Tuesday, November 29, that "if students try to spread lies in cyberspace, the violator will be dealt with according to the law."
For example, he said that channels that are licensed to operate in cyberspace by student activists, academic associations, centers, organizations, and publications are reviewed by the responsible authority.
The Deputy Minister of Culture and Students of the Ministry of Health has claimed that monitoring students' online activities does not mean "invading their privacy," and emphasized that "the disciplinary council can intervene and file a complaint if it sees content in cyberspace that has been republished with the aim of questioning the interests and concerns of the university."
The recent statements of this Ministry of Health official come at a time when the crackdown on student activists in Iran has intensified, and recently, students including Marzieh Amiri, Leila Hosseinzadeh, Kasri Nouri, and Ruhollah Mardani have been sentenced to a total of 70 years in prison.
In July of last year, Human Rights Watch issued a statement announcing that Iranian authorities had intensified their repression of protesting students by issuing prison sentences and placing restrictions on peaceful activities.
The US State Department has also repeatedly condemned the violent confrontations and widespread repression of protesters and opponents of the regime under various pretexts, as well as the repeated and persistent violations of the rights of Iranian citizens by the ruling regime in that country.
Source: Voice of America
