Issuance of Indictments for 43 Protesters from December 2017 in Kermanshah

The public prosecutor of Kermanshah Province announced the issuance of indictments for 43 protesters from the December 2017 protests in the province, stating that they had taken to the streets under the 'influence' of social media. Mohammad Hossein Sadeghi mentioned this in an interview with the official news agency of the judiciary, Mizan Online, on Wednesday (April 8). He referred to the street protests of last December in dozens of cities in Iran as 'bitter events' that left 'damages for society.' According to this judicial official, the protests began 'in the context of unmet economic demands of the people,' but 'quickly led to subversive behaviors.' During the December protests in various cities across Iran, at least 25 people were killed, and thousands were arrested. Some detainees also lost their lives while in prison. The initial protests against the economic situation began on December 28 in Mashhad and several other cities, quickly spreading to dozens of cities across Iran and taking on a political nature. During the protests, there were harsh slogans against the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, both reformist and principlist political factions, support for the Pahlavi kings, and opposition to Iran's presence in regional countries. Sadeghi stated that 'the final decision and indictment for 43 individuals involved in the street riots of last December have been issued, and the case has been sent to court for consideration.' He also claimed that 'the susceptibility of these individuals, due to their age, was significantly influenced by social media, and their notable characteristic was emotional and impulsive behavior instead of logical action.' Concurrently with the expansion of these protests, social media platforms Telegram and Instagram were also filtered in Iran. Although these two popular social media platforms in Iran were unblocked after a while, since late last year, judicial authorities and the Supreme Council of Cyberspace have emphasized the necessity of replacing Telegram with domestic messaging apps. Saeed Peyvandi, a sociology professor in Paris, described the past year as a significant loss for the government in the media war, stating that 'the specific situation in Iran has led us to deal with a media war in various forms, and what has disrupted the rules of the game in recent years is the expansion of the use of new information and communication technologies and the formation of virtual networks that connect people and eliminate the government's comprehensive oversight over society.' According to Amin Sabati, a cybersecurity researcher in London, 'Although Telegram did not play a role in starting the protests, the rapid flow of information through this platform made Telegram play an important role in the circulation of information among Iranians.'