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Iranian Activists: Fight for Iran is Battle Over Access to Technology
The insideIRAN.org project at The Century Foundation and the National Security Network are convening a year-long advisory task force comprised of North American, European, and Iranian participants, well-connected either to their respective countries’ policy-making on Iran or, in the case…
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Iran Arrests Key Activists Working to End Cyberspace Censorship
Keyhan Kasravi
BERLIN—Last week, the office of Tehran’s General and Revolutionary Courts announced that thirty individuals suspected of having been involved in organized cyber wars were arrested after a series of complicated intelligence operations in the field of communications technology. This followed a wave of attacks against anti-government websites and blogs by a group called Iran’s Cyber Army.
Similar to many prior security cases, the news about these arrests first appeared in Kayhan and Fars News, both of which are run by hardliners close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. In their reports, they claimed that $50 million dollars was appropriated by the CIA for this cyber group and this group was engaged in infiltrating and sabotaging Iranian websites, fighting government’s filtering efforts, providing web security for users of illegal anti-government websites, and providing a safe haven to establish phone communication and transfer of data for foreign media in order to interview activists inside the country.
To discredit its members, the government tried to demonstrate ties between this group and the monarchists and the People’s Mojahedin Organization. The government also tried to exaggerate the “sophisticated and complex” nature of this intelligence operation to demonstrate its intelligence and security abilities. Human rights activists, however, believe that these actions are parts of a new scenario to “intensify pressure on activists fighting censorship and those involved in human rights activities, instilling fear in users and promoting the idea that the Internet is not a trustworthy source of information, and reasserting the claim that the Green Movement is linked to foreign intelligence services, especially the CIA.”
After finding out more details about these arrests, it turned out that the group arrested by Iranian authorities was the committee against censorship in Iran that goes by the name Iran Proxy. This group is composed of students specializing on the Internet that began its activities in mid 2003 amid the government’s expansion of filtering efforts. These individuals aimed to spread the culture of free speech and free thought and promote anti-censorship ideas. In recent years, this group has played a key role to spread and promote various ways to break government filtering and censorship efforts. This group took advantage of online resources to pass through walls of censorship and secure its online communications in order to remain safe from government tracking efforts. They announced that to reach their goals, they “would use resources provided by NGOs, human rights organizations, and domestic and international media.”
Among the founders of this group, Hossein Ronaghi, also known in the cyber community as Babak Khorramdin, founded Iran Proxy and was the most important technical expert who was arrested. He was arrested two months ago after receiving death threats from the IRGC and security services. Pro-government and state-owned media had accused this group of plotting to overthrow the government and now, in a surprising move, claim that the CIA gave Ronaghi $50 million of the operation.
In recent years, the Iranian government has adopted a two-faceted policy in regard to cyberspace. On the one hand, Iranian security and intelligence forces, fully aware of the impact of the Internet on the Iranian people, have taken over Internet and communications infrastructure, such as companies providing Internet services, and tried to decrease the level of effectiveness of the Internet by intensifying the filtering of undesirable websites, and hiring hackers and saboteurs to sabotage the activities of various opposition websites.
On the other hand, the government has supported groups such as Internet Jihad and the Cyber Army that partake in efforts commonly known as cyber crime, going so far to call it a “holy Internet battle.” Recently, in an unprecedented move, General Naini, Basij’s cultural and social deputy commander, announced, “by the end of this year [in the Iranian calendar], cyberspace will be conquered by hezbollahi forces.”
In the aftermath of the disputed June 12 election, Iranian users took advantage of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to organize demonstrations and inform the outside world of the protest of the Iranian people. This creative move was accompanied by the introduction of new terms to the Iranian political literature such as “velvet revolution” and “soft overthrow” in which the Internet was named as one of the most important tools of overthrowing the Iranian government.
In 2009, the IRGC established a Cyber Defense Command. This was the most significant move by the Iranian government to counter online sedition and soft overthrow while hiding behind the notion of defending human rights. This influential institution, which according to experts has received an enormous amount of funding, became responsible for investigating cyber crimes, and the Cyber Army has operated as one of its subordinate groups. The IRGC, taking full advantage of its power and influence in the parliament and other related institutions, has been able to pass legislation it found favorable in regard to cyber crimes and Internet activities. According to these laws, distributing anti-filtering technology or introducing the public to methods bypassing censorship are considered criminal activity.
In order to create this Cyber Defense Command, the IRGC employed some of the best experts in the field by offering outrageous salaries, up to five thousand dollars a month. Some experts, who were unwilling to cooperate, were threatened by the government and forced to submit to IRGC’s will. There are rumors that, prior to their arrest, thirty individuals had received offers from the IRGC asking them to cooperate with the government’s efforts.
Arresting anti-censoring activists and intensifying Internet filtering and cyber monitoring by the government are among the many attempts made by the government to immunize itself from the wide-reaching impact of the Internet on Iran’s democratic movement. Communications sociologists, however, believe that the nature of the Internet exposes any effort made to suppress free and open activity. In their opinion, these efforts might slow down the developments, but increase the power of abrupt and sudden actions. A prominent Iranian professor of communications at a major university in Tehran says, “The IRGC is already defeated in the fight against cyber developments.”Clerics, not Judges, Decide Who Is Mohareb
Rasool Nafisi
WASHINGTON—Browsing through the Iranian journals and listening to the current discourses in that country, one might be shocked to find out that a major debate is under way over whether the government is entitled to “cut the right arm and the left leg” of those opposing the regime. But such is the state of discourse in a country that enjoyed a century of secular life and a penal code largely copied from those in France and Belgium, before it became an Islamic state. more»Turkey’s Warm Ties with Iran: A Brief History
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Media Analysis
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Iran’s government-affiliated news services have featured a number of responses to President Obama’s statement at the start of the Iranian New Year, and Secretary of State Clinton’s speech to AIPAC in recent days. The responses show Iran’s leaders do not believe Washington plans to improve its adversarial relationship with Tehran. more»Iran Paralyzes Political Parties by Arresting Leaders
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Critical Comments
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