Iran's Attorney General: Some Detained Telegram Channel Managers Will Be Released

Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, Iran's Attorney General, announced on Wednesday, April 5, that 'some' of the managers of Telegram channels who were detained in the last days of the previous year will be released in 'the coming days.' In an interview with the IRIB news agency regarding the reasons for the arrest of 12 Telegram channel managers, he stated: 'The channels that were shut down and the individuals arrested in this regard were deemed by the judge to have committed acts against national security that involved criminal actions.' Following the arrests of several Telegram channel managers and journalists such as Morad Saghafi, Ehsan Mazandarani, and Hengameh Shahidi, officials from Hassan Rouhani's government criticized these arrests. Hassan Rouhani also requested a report from the Minister of Interior on the 'suspicious' arrests of 'some media activists' ahead of the elections and to prevent 'illegal' interference by certain institutions in the elections. However, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri stated: 'It does not matter to us which faction these networks are affiliated with, and the judiciary acts according to the law, and both the arrest of these individuals and their continued detention have been lawful and will continue to be according to the law.' Regarding the requests from some government officials and parliament members for the release of these individuals, he remarked: 'In any case, those who are arrested inevitably have friends and supporters who request their release, and the judiciary strives to act according to legal standards in the process of arrest and continued detention.' Several reformist representatives in the parliament have recently criticized these arrests and called for the release of these media activists in Iran. According to ILNA, Ali Motahari, Mostafa Kaveh Kabi, Mahmoud Sadeghi, Gholamreza Heydari, and Alireza Rahimi, reformist representatives, stated in a notice to the Minister of Information, 'Why were 12 popular Telegram channels shut down and their managers arrested in the last days of the year 1395?!' Mohammad Reza Aref also mentioned that 'all those arrested are reformists.' Meanwhile, Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, the government spokesman, stated on Tuesday that 'the president has expressed his concern and sorrow regarding this issue.' In this context, Mahmoud Alavi, Iran's Minister of Information, said last week regarding the arrest of Telegram channel managers: 'The government has opposed these arrests from the very beginning and continues to oppose them.' Additionally, Mahmoud Sadeghi, a representative from Tehran in the parliament, wrote a letter to Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in the last days of Esfand last year, stating that the arrest of managers of several political Telegram channels has 'raised a wave of concern' regarding the 'commitment' to the promise of non-interference by this institution in the elections. In this context, the Rouhani government has expressed concern over the 'securitization' of the media environment ahead of the elections. The Attorney General stated: 'Every week, 16,000 to 20,000 Telegram channels are filtered, and it is not enough.' The International Federation of Journalists condemned the detention of three journalists in Iran. A parliament representative requested from Larijani for the release of media activists.