Khorramabadi: Telegram Filtering is Permanent and Final

Abdolsamad Khorramabadi, the secretary of the committee responsible for filtering cyberspace in Iran, defended the judiciary's decision to block Telegram, emphasizing that this filtering is 'permanent.' The secretary of the 'Committee for Determining Criminal Content' responded to some questions about the filtering of Telegram in a post on the 'Soroush' messaging app on Saturday, May 22, and strongly defended the blocking of this messaging network in Iran. According to ISNA and Tasnim news agencies, Khorramabadi wrote in one of the eight points of his post: 'Do not pay attention to rumors that the filtering of Telegram is temporary. The filtering of Telegram is permanent and final.' In the past two weeks, in addition to protests from international organizations against censorship and filtering in Iran, Hassan Rouhani, the President of the Islamic Republic, has also stated that he opposes the blocking of Telegram. The Iranian President, although he had previously said, 'Our minister's hand will not go to the filter button,' criticized this decision after a judicial ruling was issued regarding the blocking of Telegram, stating in a post on his Instagram: 'The recent blocking of Telegram was neither executed by the government nor approved by the government.' The judicial ruling for blocking Telegram was published on May 10 and signed by Bijan Qasemzadeh, an investigator in the second branch of the Tehran Culture and Media Prosecutor's Office. Telegram, which is considered a popular network in Iran and reportedly had over forty million users, was temporarily filtered following nationwide protests last December. In recent months, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and officials from the judiciary have verbally attacked foreign messaging apps and social networks, including Telegram, labeling them as tools for 'foreign infiltration and inciting the people.' Pavel Durov, the CEO of Telegram, after the network was filtered following the nationwide protests in December, rejected the accusations from Iranian officials, emphasizing that he blocks channels containing violence and terrorism but remains committed to the free flow of information. Did the prosecutor's office have such authority? After the publication of the judicial ruling for blocking Telegram, which was signed by an investigator in the Tehran Culture and Media Prosecutor's Office, Hassan Rouhani wrote on his Instagram: 'A judicial ruling was issued and communicated to all mobile operators and internet service providers to take action to disrupt communication. A similar action was taken last year during the presidential election for the possibility of voice calls on Telegram.' In the past two weeks, criticisms of the judiciary's direct intervention in filtering Telegram have increased, and even seven human rights and information freedom organizations have called on Hassan Rouhani's government to stand against the judiciary's order and put an end to 'widespread violations of freedom of expression in Iran.' However, Abdolsamad Khorramabadi, in his new note, in response to a question about the legality of the judiciary's direct action in blocking Telegram, stated that broad legal powers are not exclusive to Iran and that 'in most countries of the world, broad powers are given to judges.' Abdolsamad Khorramabadi, who is also the Deputy Attorney General, accused critics of the recent judicial ruling of 'lack of familiarity with procedural regulations.' Meanwhile, seven lawyers have filed a complaint against the action of the investigator who issued this ruling. Previously, judicial officials only referred to the 'Supreme Council of Cyberspace' and claimed that the filtering of Telegram was the council's request; government officials strongly deny this. The Supreme Council of Cyberspace was established by the order of the Supreme Leader and consists of 17 legal members and 10 real members. In recent weeks, officials of the current government have emphasized their opposition to filtering, explaining that the government does not hold a majority in the Supreme Council of Cyberspace. However, a few days ago, an old letter from Hassan Rouhani to the Minister of Communications was published, which among other things called for 'effective action against VPNs,' 'strengthening domestic messaging networks,' and 'ending the monopoly of the current foreign messaging app.' In addition to this letter, the action of Hassan Rouhani's cabinet members to close their Telegram accounts several weeks before the judicial ruling has also faced criticism. In the days leading up to the issuance of the judicial ruling regarding the filtering of Telegram, Hassan Rouhani implicitly identified the Supreme Leader (whom he referred to as 'the highest level of the system') as responsible for the filtering. However, some conservatives, including Ahmad Alamolhoda, the Friday prayer leader of Mashhad, have accused Rouhani's government of 'intending to filter Telegram but wanting to shift the responsibility for this action onto the leader.' In this context, the request of seven non-profit organizations from Rouhani to challenge the filtering of Telegram is noteworthy. Officials say that about two percent of Iranian users have left Telegram.