Motahari: Reasons for the 'Government Order' to Block Telegram Should Be Announced

Following Hassan Rouhani's request for the necessity of informing the public about the decision made at the 'highest levels of the system' regarding the blocking of Telegram, Ali Motahari, a member of parliament, also referred to this decision as a 'government order' and called for the reasons to be announced. Rouhani's stance came after a prolonged challenge between the government and the judiciary, culminating in the judiciary issuing an order on April 30 to block the popular messaging app Telegram in Iran. The Tehran Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office announced several reasons for this blockage, one of which was the submission of 'numerous public complaints' against Telegram and the support for domestic messaging apps. This judicial action followed the announcement by Aladdin Boroujerdi, head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Parliament, that the decision to filter Telegram was made at the 'highest levels of the system' and that access to this software would be cut off for Iranians by the end of Farvardin (April). In the political lexicon of the Islamic Republic, terms like 'highest level' or 'senior officials of the system' are often used to avoid directly mentioning the Supreme Leader or his office. In response to the judicial order regarding the blocking of Telegram, President Hassan Rouhani wrote on his Instagram page: 'The recent filtering and blocking of Telegram has neither been executed by the government nor is it approved by the government.' Rouhani added that 'if a decision has been made at the highest level of the system to restrict or block the communications of the people, the true owners of this country, the people, should be informed.' The Deputy Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly also referred to the possible order from the Supreme Leader in this regard as a 'government order' and stated that 'if there is a government order for filtering Telegram, it should be announced with reasons.' In his speech in the parliament, Ali Motahari claimed that in this case, 'the people will accept it, as they consider the leader of the revolution, beyond the position of the Wilayat, to be a wise person who bases his decisions on the interests and happiness of the nation.' Motahari also added that 'it would have been better if the filtering of Telegram had been done through legal channels.' He considered the 13 members of the working group for determining criminal instances responsible for the decision regarding the Telegram messaging app based on the law and added that the judiciary has no responsibility in this regard. The representative from Tehran also addressed Hassan Rouhani, stating that instead of 'hinting at taqiya and alluding to this and that,' which is a sign of 'weakness,' as the executor of the constitution, he 'could have' given a constitutional reminder to the judiciary regarding Telegram. Following Rouhani's public opposition to the blocking of Telegram, many users in cyberspace criticized him for always claiming that 'others' prevent him from fulfilling his promises. The prosecutor should not intervene in every issue. The promise to lift the house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard has also been one of Rouhani's electoral promises in both presidential terms that has not yet been realized. Although there have recently been 'openings' in the situation of the house-arrested individuals, including allowing the daughters of Mousavi and Rahnavard to meet with them outside of weekly visits and a few political figures meeting with Mehdi Karroubi, the lifting of the house arrest has not yet been achieved. While some members of parliament have expressed hope that the house arrest of the leaders of the 2009 protests will soon be lifted, the Tehran prosecutor stated on Friday that reports in this regard were fundamentally false. This issue has also drawn a reaction from Motahari, who said that the Tehran prosecutor 'should have asked his superiors before denying it.' He added that 'prosecutors should not intervene in every issue.' This representative considered the Tehran prosecutor's public reaction to the city council's opposition to the resignation of the former mayor of Tehran and 'some actions of the Mashhad prosecutor' to be a cause of 'disgrace' for the Islamic Republic and at the same time reminded that 'from a prosecutor who believes his powers are just a fingertip less than God's powers, these actions seem natural.' The Deputy Speaker of the Iranian Parliament further described the 'duality in the field of information' in Iran as a 'danger' that threatens the 'integrity' of the Islamic Republic. He cited the arrest of several environmental activists, which the Ministry of Intelligence does not confirm as 'espionage,' but the IRGC Intelligence and the judiciary emphasize, as an example of this duality. Motahari sarcastically suggested that Hossein Taeb, head of the IRGC Intelligence Organization, 'should be introduced and elected as the Minister of Intelligence or the IRGC's intelligence duties should, as in the past, be limited to internal affairs of the IRGC and armed opposition groups.' While 'overlapping intelligence operations' is one of the serious challenges facing the government with the IRGC and the judiciary, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had previously called for their cooperation in this regard during a meeting with intelligence officials in Iran. The IRGC Intelligence Unit has expanded its organization since 1997 and has arrested many political and civil activists. The arrest of several national-religious activists and members of the Freedom Movement in 1999 was one of the controversial actions of this body. This organization, in 2009, while playing a special role in suppressing protesters alongside the Ministry of Intelligence, was transformed into the IRGC Intelligence Organization by a decree from the Supreme Leader, and its actions, parallel to the activities of the Ministry of Intelligence, have always faced criticism.