The Iranian regime makes a mockery of World Press Day with more censorship and detention

Keeping track of what is going on in the world is one of the most important metrics in a free and democratic society. In a free society, this is recognized as a citizen's right and enshrined in most constitutions of many countries to guarantee to sustain democracy. 

The bodies that comply with this comprehensive demand and do so are the press and journalists, who sometimes try to surface the truth by accepting the risk of dangers posed to them in this way and even by risking their lives. For this reason, most people in the world recognize and respect journalists. In some countries, journalists who are committed to the values of their profession are well known, popular and have the great political power to influence society.

The advancement of technology in communications and the development of satellite broadcasting and the Internet was a great leap forward for the media. These advancements have enabled the journalists to operate independently and without fear of censorship by governments and spread news and events widely to the people of the world. 

But in countries with dictatorial regimes such as Iran under Khamenei's reign, the press is under the control and censorship of the government. It is used only to propagate the regime's repressive policies. 

As a result, in these dictatorships, metrics of democracy such as free elections, have been deprived of their true values. Journalists have also become tools of the ruling power, who are forced to legitimize the goals and demands of the dictatorship, manufacture unrealistic and distorted reports and news, and try to justify the oppression of the society. 
 

In this equation, any media outlet or journalist who dares or chooses to shed light on the truth will, at the very least, have their news operations shut down, and staff or individual journalists fined, charged, imprisoned, tortured and even killed. This is true even for independent journalists and bloggers working on the internet. Journalists and bloggers in Iran are in constant danger of arbitrary arrest and detention. 

Iran's ruling clerics have shown that they do not value press freedom or impartial journalism. In addition to filtering many news sites, the government does not allow anyone to write or publish anything against the government in cyberspace.

According to Reporters Without Borders, Iran remains one of the biggest prisons for journalists. In fact, in 2019, Iran ranked 170th out of 180 countries in terms of press freedom. The level of repression is most severe among women journalists, making Iran the world's largest prison for women journalists. With ten women journalists currently in prison, Iran holds the record for repression of women journalists in the world.

Needless to say, these arrests and imprisonments are not simple arrests, but are, in most cases, accompanied by physical and mental torture to force the journalist to surrender and express her repentance.

If a journalist decides to resist the pressure or its demands, he or she is likely to meet the same fate as Ms. Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian-Canadian journalist who was arrested, tortured, raped and killed in Iran on 11 July 2003. Iranian cyber-police arrested Sattar Beheshti, a non-professional worker and blogger, for criticising the government on Facebook. He was arrested in early November 2012, tortured and finally killed a few days later. 

As usual, no government authority or legal body was charged in the above two cases and many more. On the other hand, despite all these repressive measures, the reality indicates that the people and society have not bowed to the demands of Iran's dictatorship and have not surrendered. On the one hand, the use of the global internet has made it possible for many journalists to work outside Iran and spread the news of the resistance to the people. On the other hand, by boycotting the regime's press, radio and television and using all kinds of filters and satellites, the country's population has shown resistance to oppose the repression.

The Iranian people's access to other media around the world via the internet and cyberspace has become one of the mullahs' main concerns. A concern that Khamenei had to mention in one of his recent speeches and warned against. In his speech, Khamenei complained that the government has not fully imposed censorship in cyberspace because it is well aware that free information space is one of the most important dangers to the continuation and survival of its regime. 

The experience of the uprisings in recent years, in which people spread the news of the uprisings and the regime's use of repressive forces around the world via the internet. Moreover, the internet and cyberspace have become a means to coordinate rallies and meetings. The regime fears that cyberspace will become a mobilisation platform for much larger, more widespread and organised rallies and social unrest in the future. If this becomes a reality, it could bring down the current regime. 

To block the dissemination of news about demonstrations, rallies and gatherings, the regime has tried to weaken the speed or quality of the internet and, in some cases, the total disconnection of the network for days at a time. In addition, the Iranian regime is trying to create an independent internal communication system with the help of China and aims to isolate Iran from the World Wide Web altogether. This, of course, will not be possible easily because with the expansion of satellite internet technology in the near future, people will no longer need an internal system to connect to the World Wide Web.

Cyrus Yaqubi is a research analyst and commentator on Iranian foreign affairs who researches social issues and the economy of Middle Eastern countries in general and Iran in particular.