No
one can deny that these days millions of Iranians rely on Facebook.
The high number of Facebook users in Iran, which is estimated to be
anywhere between four million and five million people, makes this a
social phenomena. Young Iranians are denied the most basic freedoms
even in their private lives and without social liberties,what these
users reflect on their Facebook pages is in effect how they would
like to live.
Iranians
use social networking sites among other things for political
discussion, more open posting and publication of works of art and
literature, the announcement of events that cannot be publicized on
domestic newspapers and to find kindred spirits or like-minded
people. But is it possible for Iranians appear in any arena without
Islamic Republic officials cracking down on them?
In
June 2014 three Ahvazi citizens were sentenced to three years in jail
for creating certain Facebook pages, membership on Facebook carried a
one-year sentence. Some people are arrested for crimes against
morality and public decency on Facebook. In July 2014, a
Revolutionary Court sentenced eight people to 127 years imprisonment
in total for being active Facebook users. In another instance
the Malayer Security chief announced the sentencing of 22 Facebook
users, and this is a another long story.
Ali
MirAhmadi, the deputy head of Iran Cyber Police has said: “The main
objective of Iran’s Cyber Police is to promote cyber security
through continuous observation and monitoring of cyber space. I
advise all users to comply with the laws and regulations and avoid
any form of offence within cyber space because the police have
complete knowledge of it.”
In
most cases as soon as someone is arrested for using Facebook, the
Cyber Police regards him as either a spy, prostitute, enemy abettor
or guilty of crimes against morals and public decency. The offences
are considered to be proven in advance.
A
lawyer says that judges often have no expertise in cyber technology
and adds: “Judges have no expertise in computer technology and so
everything goes back to the reports from the ministry of intelligence
or the Cyber Police. The judge accepts these reports as expert
opinions. Therefore, it is impossible
to prove otherwise.”
An
IT expert says the problem is that when an Iranian enters the World
Wide Web, he must follow the model of use that suits his
circumstances in Iran. “In our country, the internet and social
networking sites are a venue for political activity. The government
views this political activity as propaganda against the regime.
Therefore, cyber space is under close scrutiny by the government.”
The IT specialist goes on to conclude that for this reason, internet
users in Iran must maintain different security criteria for
themselves when they use the internet as opposed to people outside of
Iran.
