Iran

ARTICLE 19 examines how the Iranian regime is strengthening its hold over the internet through its Supreme Council of Cyberspace (SCC), with ever-increasing powers and under a new hardline leadership.

The report examines how Iranian authorities systematically violate people’s right to protest and assemble, deceive and lie about the violations they commit, and unlawfully keep people seeking transparency and accountability in the dark.

Government ordered Internet shutdowns are fast becoming a key tactic to disconnect people from each other and to prevent us from scrutinising our governments’ actions.

During nation-wide protests in November 2019 Iran’s government cut off the Internet for over 80 million people.  As the shutdown continued the authorities attacked and killed hundreds.

Dozens of people were detained for online activities, including administrators of social media pages or chat groups who were forced to delete or deactivate them

As of December, there were eight journalists behind bars in Iran, down from 19 in 2015 and 30 in 2014, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The Rouhani administration engaged in extensive internet surveillance and interference throughout the year, announcing in January that more than 130 Facebook pages had been closed and more than 30 internet users detained in connection with their online activity.

Cartoonist arrested on charges of insulting state officials and spreading propaganda for posting image of reproductive rights vote

What is the correlation between the online and offline behaviour of Iranian citizens and the likelihood of their arrest in Iran today? Answering this question is the main focus of this new ARTICLE 19 report.

Ranked 190th in annual global media freedom report

Iranians use proxy servers and VPNs to circumvent government filtering

Ranked 190th in annual global media freedom report

Rouhani government releases political prisoners, lifts restrictions on banned topics and reopens professional film association

“Cyberspace ayatollahs”

“Iran remains one of the world’s worst jailers of journalists”

Ranked 191st in annual global media freedom report

“Scholars are frequently detained, threatened, and forced to retire for expressing political views”

Ayatollah Khamenei directly responsible for torture of journalists and bloggers

Netizens sentenced to death for online activities

“Tehran continued to use the mass imprisonment of journalists to silence dissent and quash critical news coverage”

“Hounding and humiliating journalists has been part of officialdom’s political culture for years”