Azari Jahromi: I Take Pride in My Responsibility for the Technical Infrastructure of Surveillance Equipment

Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, the proposed Minister of Communications and Information Technology, stated that "the country needs surveillance" and emphasized that "during my tenure, I was not responsible for surveillance but rather for the technical infrastructure of manufacturing equipment for this industry, and I consider this an honor." According to the House of Representatives news agency, affiliated with the parliament, Azari Jahromi spoke on Saturday, August 12, about the reason for the country's "need" for surveillance, saying that the country faces "security issues and problems." He pointed out that there is a "law" regarding surveillance, adding, "The law was approved by the parliament, and in Article 150 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the surveillance organization is discussed, which must be established in the general offices of all judiciary departments, and its judge is also the head of the judiciary." The proposed minister to Hassan Rouhani's cabinet also said, "During my tenure, I was not responsible for surveillance but rather for the technical infrastructure of manufacturing equipment for this industry, and I consider this an honor." Amir Rashidi, an internet access researcher at the Iran Human Rights Campaign, stated in an interview with Radio Farda regarding Azari Jahromi's remarks: "If we accept Mr. Jahromi's statements, he has confirmed his past in the Ministry of Intelligence for the first time." Rashidi believes that "this is significant because there is no information about this part of Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi's background anywhere, and even in the biography and program he submitted to the parliament for the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, there is no mention of this background. Therefore, his confirmation of this matter is significant." In this context, Azari Jahromi stated in an interview with Iran newspaper published on Sunday, August 13, that he worked in the Ministry of Intelligence from 2005 to 2013 and defended his performance in this ministry. He noted that in 2005, he was a technical expert and in 2009, he was the director of communication systems security at the Regulatory Authority. According to this interview, Azari Jahromi was transferred from the Ministry of Intelligence to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in 2013 at the request of Mahmoud Vaezi, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology. Meanwhile, Amir Rashidi pointed out regarding the proposed Minister of Communications and Information Technology's responsibility in the Ministry of Intelligence, as reported by the House of Representatives news agency: "He confirmed that he was responsible for the technical infrastructure and the manufacturing of surveillance equipment, which means that the tools used for spying and hacking were designed and built under his management. In other words, the responsibility for hacking and spying on users falls on him, as he produced such tools and provided them to Iranian security and judicial authorities." Rashidi added that "all governments in the world typically use such tools, but no one takes pride in them." He emphasized that "another very important point is that we are talking about a country that has no transparency in its judicial and security systems. We are also discussing the period of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's second government, during which we know that a large number of journalists, activists, and political, human rights, student, and women's critics were arrested, imprisoned, and even tortured based on the surveillance and spying carried out by the tools produced by Mr. Jahromi." He concluded: "Mr. Azari Jahromi had a significant responsibility in suppressing Iranian civil and political society in 2009." In this context, the House of Representatives news agency reported that Azari Jahromi stated that during his tenure, "I stood up for legal rights and opposed lawlessness, and today I am condemned for violating people's privacy." However, he did not provide further explanation on these matters. He had previously tweeted: "I was and am an engineer, defending people's rights in any capacity. If I was once part of an organization, I worked for the people, not against them." However, the proposed Minister of Communications and Information Technology did not provide clarification on this issue. According to the House of Representatives news agency, Azari Jahromi also stated that he adheres to the "red lines of the system." Previously, Elias Naderan, a former parliament representative, tweeted to Hassan Rouhani: "By appointing the technical deputy of the Ministry of Intelligence, whose inherent duty is surveillance and arrests, do you want to free the cyberspace?" In response to this issue, Azari Jahromi tweeted: "The Ministry of Intelligence does not have a general office called surveillance. Political matters are not pursued in the technical deputy." Opponents of Azari Jahromi have claimed that he was previously the director of surveillance at the Ministry of Intelligence, but some of his supporters stated that he left the Ministry of Intelligence in 2009. They also mentioned that Azari Jahromi, in his position as Deputy Minister of Communications and Information Technology, had conflicts with the judiciary regarding the filtering of social networks.