Reza Moieni: Some Sentences for Web Journalists are 'Surprising'

Reporters Without Borders recently condemned the arrest and repression of web journalists and social media activists in a statement. This organization, in its statement published on Monday, June 1, referred to two recent arrests in cyberspace and once again condemned what it called 'repressive actions in Iran against journalists and web journalists.' Mahmoud Mousavifar and Shayan Akbarpour are two of the recent detainees who managed the Facebook page 'Rahiyaan' and the blog 'Rahai.' These two were arrested on June 10, 2015, by the intelligence agents of the IRGC in Tehran, and the reason and location of their detention have not been disclosed to their families. In part of the statement, Reporters Without Borders noted that since the beginning of Hassan Rouhani's presidency, nearly one hundred web journalists have been arrested, and many of them have been sentenced to heavy prison terms. Regarding the arrests of citizen web journalists and the restrictions imposed on media activists, we conducted an interview with Reza Moieni, head of the Iran section of Reporters Without Borders. Has the trend of arresting internet activists and citizen web journalists changed after the 2013 elections? What we emphasized in the statement is based on available statistics that since August 2013 and the beginning of Mr. Hassan Rouhani's presidency, nearly 100 citizen web journalists have been arrested. Some of these detainees were tried and sentenced to long-term imprisonment, while others were released on bail but remain under some form of prosecution. What was the situation of arrests after the 2009 elections and until the end of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency? Given the situation that arose in the aftermath of the 2009 elections and the repression that followed the popular protests, normalcy was not prevalent in society. In the issued statement, we announced that more than 300 internet activists and citizen web journalists were arrested during this period, some of whom are still in prison. That period was exceptional, but after Mr. Hassan Rouhani's election, given the promises he made and the situation in society, these actions could have been avoided. In the same statement, we explained that the arrests of journalists or web journalists during this time were carried out by the IRGC's intelligence; particularly, we have stated that citizen web journalists have been targeted by the IRGC. Were most of the arrests before 2013 also related to the IRGC? The main responsibility for those arrests lay with the Ministry of Intelligence and also the IRGC. The reality is that since the day after the Iranian revolution, the Ministry of Intelligence, which at that time operated as the Prime Minister's intelligence, and the IRGC have been conducting intelligence and security operations in parallel. Even now, these two institutions participate in competitions with each other and, of course, also carry out joint actions. What is the main goal of the IRGC in pressuring internet activists? In this statement, we explained that the IRGC carries out this work with two main objectives. The first is its repressive nature, which continues the repression of 2009. On the other hand, the IRGC uses the arrests of web journalists and journalists for the power struggle that exists in the Islamic Republic among various factions, especially to weaken Mr. Rouhani's government. In the issued statement, we recalled that Mr. Rouhani, for various reasons and with promises for the freedom of political prisoners, freedom of expression, and press, was able to gain the support of reformists, young people, and women. Now, in a way, in this power struggle, these attacks on journalists can even be used politically. Have the sentences issued by the judiciary for internet activists and citizen web journalists changed in the past two years compared to the past? Some of these sentences have a surrealistic nature. For example, a total of 132 years of prison sentences have been issued. Or, for example, members of the Orange website have received sentences between 2 to 11 years for their media and internet activities. These sentences are among the heaviest we have seen so far. In the periods before 2013, we had sentences like 20 years in prison for Mr. Sakhi, a Baluch web journalist. But after that, the issued sentences are surprising and even legally flawed. From where are most of the sentences for internet activists and citizen web journalists issued? The majority of the sentences against journalists and web journalists have been issued by Branches 28 and 15 of the Revolutionary Court, whose two heads, Mr. Moghiseh and Salavati, operate under the command of the Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC. If lawyers have the opportunity to defend, these issued sentences are not even justifiable within the framework of the laws of the Islamic Republic and have numerous flaws.