"Stop typing and put your hands in the air!". One can imagine such commands being bellowed by this new Iranian internet police force as they barge in on unsuspecting bloggers. Opposition websites have been an invaluable tool for dispensing critical information, for organizing, and for informing the outside world about what's really going on in Iran. Now this brutal theocratic regime has escalated its attempts to silence them for good by creating an Internet Police Force.
TEHRAN, Iran (Nov. 14) -- Iran's embattled opposition leaders accused the government of becoming more brutal than the shah's regime in Web statements Saturday, and authorities announced a new Internet crackdown aimed at choking off the reform movement's last real means of keeping its campaign alive
In a clear effort to silence the opposition's Internet outlet, Iranian authorities announced they were deploying a special police unit to sweep Web sites for political material and prosecute those deemed to be spreading lies, Iranian media reported Saturday.
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The head of the unit, Col Mehrdad Omidi, said it would target political "insults and the spreading of lies".
He said the new 12-member "special committee" would monitor the internet and deal with crimes such as "fraud... insults and the spreading of lies".
Iranian experts say the deployment of the new unit is aimed at choking off the opposition campaign.
"Authorities know that the internet is one of the few available channels for the opposition to make its voice heard. They want to silence opposition voices," journalist Akbar Montajabi told the Associated Press news agency.
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This effort is being led by the Revolutionary Guards. You have to wonder who has supplied Iran with Web monitoring technology, or perhaps they have developed a home grown application.
He (Reza Moini of Paris-based NGO Reporters Without Borders) says that there are several points to stress: notably that when the Iranian parliament ratified the Internet law there were several institutions put in charge of surveillance, but now, with the opposition movement continuing unabated, the regime is concerned that the Internet is playing a key role in informing people and spreading information. This, he says, is where the police are becoming involved, and he says, by police, what is meant is the "Guardians of the Revolution," who are increasingly trying to seize the lead.
The Intelligence Ministry has clamped down on both the Internet and on mobile phone communications during opposition demonstrations to disrupt communications. Opposition activists complain that internet speeds were brought to dismally slow levels and that they were forced to use proxies to prevent their IP addresses from being detected.
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The opposition has no access to state media and has been promoting its message largely through the Internet.
Iranian newspapers are warned by authorities from time to time not to publish articles in support of the opposition leaders.
Iran's state radio and TV are directly controlled by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who strongly endorsed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election in June. The opposition maintains the contest was marred by fraud.
Reform-minded journalist Akbar Montajabi described this as the latest set of restrictions being imposed on media in Iran.
"That police monitor Web sites and impose restrictions is nothing new. Authorities know that Internet is the one of few available channels for the opposition to make its voice heard," he said. "They want to silence opposition voices."
Montajabi said popular sites such as Facebook and Twitter were some of the few available channels to inform the world on what was happening in Iran after the disputed June elections and the authorities want to limit them — if not stamp out that avenue altogether.
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While vowing to tackle internet crimes in general, the unit's political nature is indicated by the emphasis on "insults and lies" – a term often used to describe opposition statements since the election.
Mousavi and Karroubi have used newly established websites to continue their criticism of the violent crackdown that followed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory, which they say was obtained through fraud. The Mousavi-linked Kalemeh and the Karroubi-affiliated Tagheer have continued voicing their views even after newspapers supporting them were closed. Pro-regime hardliners have repeatedly demanded the arrest of the pair for statements published online in their names.
Access to the internet is already restricted in Iran. An estimated 10m websites deemed socially or politically offensive have been blocked – prompting the Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders to list Iran as one of the world's 13 worst internet "black holes".
A registration system has also been introduced for bloggers, many of whom have been arrested and jailed. Three years ago, the government banned high-speed broadband internet for home users in an attempt to prevent the downloading of western films and pornography.
But the new crime unit represents a significant escalation of a clampdown on cyberspace that has intensified since the mass streets protests that greeted Ahmadinejad's re-election.
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One hopes that the Reform movement will be able to navigate around this escalation of cyberspace monitoring. But the paranoia factor must be overwhelming.
moon