Iran cut off from the world to impose silence and repress

Following massive protests against rising gas prices in more than 100 cities across the country, the internet was completely shut down on the evening of November 16 and continues to be severely disrupted. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounces and condemns the repression of the fundamental right to information in Iran.

Cutting internet access in the country is a common method for the Iranian regime to contain and suppress the protest movements in the country. But never before has the cut been so long: for 52 hours, the country has been totally cut off from the world . Internet access is still highly disturbed. A decision taken by the high council of national security chaired by the President of the Republic, Hassan Rohani, and which aims to control the dissemination of information, including social networks. 

According to media reports and independent journalists, 100 people were killed by police during 3 days of demonstrations. But the entire population of Iran, 80 million people, was deprived of its right to information because of “thugs”, which would be “few” according to the words of the Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei and the President of the Republic, Hassan Rohani.

According to official figures, nearly 62 million Internet users use the internet on their mobile phone on their cell phone in Iran. Even though the Telegram, Signal, Facebook and Twitter applications are in principle inaccessible in Iran, Internet users manage to use them via software and applications that bypass the blocking.

For fifteen years, the regime has been touting a national information network, an “Internet halal”, and presenting it to Internet users as a solution to benefit more safely from more services. In reality, the authorities are seeking above all to limit the transmission and dissemination of free and independent information, which they regard as “subversive counterrevolutionary” attempts.

In July 2016, the UN Human Rights Council recognized Internet access and its accompanying freedom of expression as a fundamental right and unequivocally condemned measures to prevent or deliberately disrupt access to information or the dissemination of information online.

“RSF condemns this new wave of repression against freedom of information in Iran ,” said Reza Moini, head of the Iran-Afghanistan zone at RSF. The organization calls on the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye, to intervene as soon as possible to protect the fundamental rights of Iranians. The Tehran regime must respect its commitments to international standards and put an end to all digital discrimination. “

In letter to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, Nobel Peace Prize 2003 Shirin Ebadi, denounces: ” the monopoly of the media is not limited to the radio, to the television and government sponsored publications. Many government actors such as the Supreme Leader, the President and even the Minister of Information Technology and Communications use filtered multimedia channels such as Twitter and Telegram to publicly share their toxic messages against the will of citizens. If these channels are available, they should be available to all citizens and not just to the authorities and the government. “

Iran ranks 170th out of 180 countries in RSF’s   2019 World Press Freedom Index

Copyright ©2016, Reporters Without Borders. Used with the permission of Reporters Without Borders, CS 90247 75083 Paris Cedex 02 https://rsf.org

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