Global Voices Advocacy » Pendar

Iran's Intelligence Ministry listed 60 organizations as ‘soft war’ agents

Pendar — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:47:49 +0000

Recently, a list of 60 organizations was published by Iranian ministry of intelligence with the accusation that they are active in the soft war against Islamic regime in Iran. Any collaboration with these organizations and media outlets with ties to these organizations will be regarded as a crime and banned.

According to Iranian Ministry of Intelligence collaboration with media such as Radio Zamaneh, Radio Farda, Radio Israel, BBC and Voice of America is considered criminal.

The list also contains the names of Berkman Center, Ford Foundation, Soros Foundation and Hivos that are supporting Global Voices Online and Global Voices Advocacy projects. However, both project’s sites were filtered in Iran before.

This action from Iranian government has widespread reflections around the globe. Too many analysis and critics were published on magazines, newspapers, and media. Once again it became clear that, how Islamic government tries to stop human rights activities in Iran. It can be clearly seen that the government became shaky as a result of freedom of speech and democracy.

As reports are shown from Iran, the amount of pressure on human rights activists, journals, cyber activists and media increased sharply. Alongside that, the government made a frightful atmosphere for students, universities’ professors and intellectual class of society.

New laws for cyber activists

Pendar — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 03:10:23 +0000

Reports from Iran show that, conditions for cyber activists became much more difficult and dangerous.

Recently, Iran’s prosecutor published a list about internet crimes. One of the prominent laws in this list claimed that distribution of links to circumvention tools or softwares is prohibited. It is also against the law to teach people how to by-pass filtering. Moreover, a person who share links form blocked sites is guilty.

Newly, Iranian police also published a statement which claimed that internet will be monitored by police and people who are politically activate on internet will be questioned by police.

(thumbnail photos from bbc)

After Ashura's Day in Iran, Khoramabadi from Iran’s prosecutor accused that some websites for assembling images of military maneuvers and exercises that are destructive to the Islamic image of the country. The accusation is to justify the blocking of a number of news websites.

Iran: Internet senior officers will be trained to counter Internet activism

Pendar — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:09:06 +0000

Recently, the Islamic Republic of Iran Intelligence Ministry announced that in order to counter Internet activism in Iran, senior officers will be trained.

The minister of the intelligence counted internet activism as a new challenge for the regime. The minister urged that, as a result of existing contacts and collaboration between the opposition inside and outside the country, Iran's national security equation should be reconstructed in response to new threats.

The minister believes that there are some core activists who are mobilising the people against the Islamic regime and it is important for the government to find and stop them. He argued that, those activists try to damage Islamic values and regime’s ideologies by misguiding the people.

The minister mentioned that, the oppositions, with the support of foreign nations, are using the internet to organize people by creating chaos in the society to pave the path for a regime change.

Iran: Online protest during the 30th anniversary of the US embassy seizure

Pendar — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:47:12 +0000

While Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has warned the opposition not to hold protest on 4^th of November, Iranian people prepare for huge rallies against dictatorship. 4^th of November marks the anniversary of US embassy seizure. 30 years ago, students grabbed the embassy, but now students have changed significantly, so this time in the memory of that day they want to sent peaceful message to the world.

As a result, the internet received massive artistic posters that are expressing Iranian’s thought, moreover these posters are aimed to encourage people to get together and protest dictatorship and discrimination, and stand for equality and human rights.

Besides, huge amount of blogs are trying to express their opinions about the current condition of the Iranian society, an important number of podcasts have been published online about 4^th of November. Facebook and Youtube are filled by clips, images and notes in the memory of those killed during the post-election’s protest.

In contrast, prominent politicians and the IRGC warned the opposition and the people not to hold any other protest except the one that is against the US. In the meantime, government tried to put the mainstream media under pressure as recently one of the Iranian newspapers has been banned with unclear reasons.

IRGC pointed out that, people should be careful not to stray from the fundamental governmental policies. According to IRGC, the opposition is induced by foreign governments such as US and other western countries. The Iranian regime send a warning, on the IRNA state news agency, that it would be not tolerate any “diversionary and false” slogans.

However, opposition’ leader Mr. Mousavi and Karobi are still encouraging people to come out and stand for their basic rights. Moreover, there are too many actions that came out from universities and even high schools in order to support Iran’s green movement. Universities’ movements activated largely after one of the students from Sharif University shouted over dictatorship in front of Ayatollah Khamenei in a meeting.

The atmosphere within academic sphere in Iran such as universities and high schools is convulsive as with many protests. In addition, 4^th of November is also called students’ day.

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Iran: More attempts to control the people

Pendar — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:41:38 +0000

These are just some of the actions that have been taken place in order to prevent Iranian Netizens from accessing the Web during the 4^th of November:

According to some sources from Iran, the internet speed has become too low and even when using ADSL, it is hard to open emails or display small size images.
According to Emipmans blog, it seems that Yahoo messenger is inaccessible in Iran. Moreover, some proxy software such as Ultra Surf and the like are not working.
According to Saitak, the Iranian government wanted to change the route (map) of protest by sending false emails to Iranian users.
Also Saitak pointed out that some ISPs in Iran opened the access to Youtube and Facebook in order to identify and track users who are people upload video clips and other content.
Saitak2 blog argued that the government has send warning SMS to people containing the following message: “by laws if you get involved in protest you will be identified and arrested.“
According to Saitak2Mobile internet access has been blocked as well.
More and more Iranian are reporting that a huge number of websites are being filtered. The amount of noises on foreign channel such as VOA, BBC Persian and so on is too high and they are inaccessible. People are also reporting that the SMS system does not deliver their massages, also the antenna coverage range is such low that people cannot call each other easily.

However as Balatarin shows, too many blogs and websites are being updated every second. They all try to cover the news and events. It is clearly seen that every Iranian user is trying to get involved in this event. They stay updated and organize their movement using blogs and social networking websites, such as Facebook.

Newly, the Green movement in Iran just launched a new web site called Green Chain that aims to Encourage bloggers who are supporting the movement to stay in touch with each other and guide them to publish mass texts i support for the movement.

The Iranian internet is almost filtered, proxy softwares do not work and Yahoo, MSN, G-Talk and even other sites such as meebo and so on are inaccessible. However, bunch of clips and news came out from Iran.

Here is a lis of some video clips covering the recent protest in Iran:

Display more videos on Youtube by accessing this link

Or you can search “13 آبان” in Youtube.

According to (BBC Persian, there were huge protests in Tehran and other big cities of Iran. Reports from Iran pointed that people protested from other provinces such as Rasht, Isphehan, Zahedan, Kermanshah,Tabriz, Mashhad and Shiraz.

As witnesses reported, police, special guard and basij attacked people by tear gas; also batons and electrical shocks were used.

Moreover, more reports from Iran are saying that universities and school students are covering Teheran walls with green color, the symbol of the Green Movement.

Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps launch 40 IRGC’s blogs

Pendar — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:15:05 +0000

Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that more than forty blogs have been created to struggle against IRGC’s enemies on cyber space. This action has taken place in the township of Arak, in the southwest of the Markazi province.

These new blogs have launched to publish IRGC's dogmas and are aiming to change people's mind. Moreover, these blogs are intended to avoid current Iranian issues to be debated online and replace them instead with governmental propaganda.

It should be mentioned that The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps announced the launch of 10.000 blogs for the paramilitary Basij forces at the end of 2008 “to control the Internet and other digital devices including SMS“.

Iran's Internet: Whirlpool and fear

Pendar — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:25:58 +0000

While the world is trying to free the web, Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is going to make it much more barred. Recently, a site which is called Gerdab (Whirlpool) has been launched in order to monitor the Iranian Internet according to the IRGC’s dogmatic ideologies and strategies.

Gerdab gathered a professional team to observe the internet. It is aimed to catch opposition web sites and blogs by reporting and/or undermining them. This will constitute an unprecedented threat for the safety and security of Iranian bloggers and another disturbing step to undermine online free speech .

As Gerdab claims, there should be in Iran no place for web sites and blogs that do not toe the line of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. However, it is also pointed out that, after Iran's rigged election, some of the regime's privacy policies have been adapted, in an attempt to introduce a new system that hides its abuses.

Gerdab strongly stands against western ideologies. It is opposed to all kind of social networking websites such as facebook and twitter, perceived as tools conspiring to topple the regime. Moreover, by articulating a rather negative perception of the Internet, Gerdab claimes that they “we want to filter the internet in order to keep our youths clean and pure from vices.”

Gerdab noted that Western countries such as the United State and Israel are using the Internet as a tool to change people’s minds. It also claims that by focusing on Iran's internal affaires, they're strategies of using the Internet is aimed at destabilizing the country and toppling the regime.Therefor, Gerdab urges the Iranian Internet users to be very careful and not publish their critical opinions on the Net.

Generally, it can be seen that Gerdab website is running to create a climate of public fear and anxiety in order to control the use of the Internet by the people. It has too many articles to bash people about the internet and its negative effects on daily life.

Iran: new and innovative ways to get heard loudly

Pendar — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 11:38:40 +0000

Let's see how people in Iran are using media to make their voices heard when all media outlets have been subjected to government pressure and censorship. After the suppositious election in Iran, most of the internet had been filtered and there were no any other media, such as radio or television, where people can exercise their freedom of expression. Moreover, all the opposition newspapers had been banned.

However, Iranian people have used their cell phones and computers to disseminate information about the green movement and it was remarkable as they succeeded in communicating with the outside world.
Now, they have found another way to make their voice heard. They gather in any places where governmental media are placed, such as football stadiums.

For instance, few days ago there was a football match in Iran and people gathered in the stadium and started protesting the government and shouting slogans against the dictatorship and it became a scandal when the government censored the shouting when it was relayed on the Iranian television.

They were also gathered for another match between two famous soccer clubs in Tehran and this time you would be able to hear their voices when they are shouting slogans. They were saying:”We don't like political football matches.” As recently, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spent huge amount of money on football to make a black market and get the benefit of that.

In another case, people call in during live shows that stream on government’s television and talk about the green movement in Iran.

Here you would be able to see how people are making use of social media:

People in stadium are looking for their votes.

People are against political sport.

An Iranian woman congratulated an official TV narrator as he wears green T-shirt and joined the green movement in Iran.