Global Voices

Thursday, December 05, 2013

Seditious iPhone Reviews? Iran Arrests 7 from Tech News Site

Screen shot of Narenji.ir

Narenji.ir published a list with the names of those arrested, which was quickly removed.



As though Iran were running short of human rights activists to arrest, revolutionary guards have now set their sights on people who write about gadgets.


The technology news website Narenji.ir in Kerman reported on December 3, 2013 that seven of their writers and technical staff were suddenly arrested with no information about where they were taken. A list of names of those arrested was removed from the site a few hours after it was posted (see screen shot).


The way Iran's Mehr News told the story, a total of 16 cyber activists were arrested in Kerman, accused of acting against national security and collaborating with foreign networks, providing content for counter-revolutionary sites.


Nariman Gharib informs us on Twitter that at least one blogger was among those arrested.


He tweeted:



The Islamic Republic has a long record of repressing digital freedoms, but the mass arrest of people writing about gadgets and technology, can be considered a new chapter.


A Facebook campaign has been launched to support Narenji's arrested staff, and netizens tweeted about new wave of arrests.


Ali Nemati Shahab tweeted [fa]:




Narenji's staff were accused of acting against national security… Do not say anything, just pray.



Oriana tweeted [fa]:




The accusations are so ridiculous, we do not know if we should laugh or cry.



AmirHossein tweets [fa]:




Narenji's post writing that revolutionary guards arrested them will cost them a lot.



Written by Farid · comments (0)

Donate ·






via Global Voices » Feature http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/12/04/seditious-iphone-reviews-iran-arrests-7-at-tech-news-site/

Labels: ,

posted by Stephen Downes @ 5:43 PM

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home