Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, the country's Attorney General, called cyberspace a "contaminated and poisonous space" from which "people suffer," and claimed that "hundreds and sometimes thousands of corruption centers" are encountered in cyberspace every week.
In an interview with reporters on the sidelines of a gathering of heads of advertising police, Mr. Montazeri, who as the country's Attorney General is a member of the Supreme Cyberspace Council, said that "cyberspace has become so polluted and poisoned that we regularly monitor it and identify and deal with hundreds and sometimes thousands of corruption centers every week."
The senior judicial official noted that "people are definitely suffering from this polluted atmosphere and we are seeking to solve the problems."
These remarks come less than a week after Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi's stance, which, in repeated comments during several different meetings, compared a large portion of cyberspace to a "mud pit" and called for planning for it.
In a meeting with the Minister of Science, he called on universities to take action to "prevent the spread of unhealthy virtual spaces," and in his jurisprudence course, he called on students to take advantage of the "opportunity of the month of Ramadan" and "insure the youth."
This Qom-based religious authority, in early May, also said in a meeting with the Minister of Health that "the information we receive regarding cyberspace is terrifying, and judicial officials and prosecutors should pay attention to this bad condition of cyberspace."
In this regard, Ayatollah Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, recently described cyberspace as a "real space of war" in a meeting with a group of students and emphasized that "clerics and students must enter the arena armed and ready to confront doubts and false and deviant thoughts [in cyberspace]."
The Ayatollah's recent stances on cyberspace have also been reflected in the statements of the country's Attorney General, who has said that the Iranian leader is "complaining" about the Ministry of Communications and the Supreme Council for Cyberspace.
The judicial official added that "fortunately, his warnings had an effect, and in a recent meeting of the Supreme Council for Cyberspace, proposals were put forward to regulate social networks."
In the most recent meeting of the Supreme Cyberspace Council, held on Saturday, June 28, emphasis was placed on prioritizing the issue of messaging networks, "based on the guidelines and concerns" of the Iranian Leader.
Among the resolutions passed at this meeting were "obligations for foreign messaging companies" operating in the country to "transfer information and activities related to Iranian citizens" to Iran, and it was decided that "gradually and over a one-year transition period" local messaging networks would continue to operate inside the country, and by supporting and providing facilities to these networks, "competitive conditions" would be provided with foreign online networks.
These decisions come at a time when, at the first meeting of the Supreme Cyberspace Council in 2016, President Hassan Rouhani, emphasizing the special importance of cyberspace, called for "more effective and appropriate steps" to be taken in this area.
On April 9 of this year, Mr. Rouhani emphasized in a meeting with the Minister of Communications and senior officials in this field that "we must root out corruption and one of the ways to combat corruption is to make matters public in cyberspace."
The Iranian leader's "concerns" about cyberspace, as well as warnings from judicial authorities in this regard, come at a time when many senior officials and figures of the Islamic Republic, including Ayatollah Khamenei's office, have an active presence on social networks and cyberspace, despite restrictions on access to cyberspace for Iranian users.
Source: Radio Farda
