Summoning Managers of Several Telegram Channels to Prosecutor's Office for 'Electoral Violations'

The head of the Tehran judiciary announced on Saturday that managers of several Telegram channels in Iran have been summoned to the prosecutor's office due to 'electoral violations.' According to the IRIB news agency, Gholamhossein Esmaeili stated that 150 cases of 'electoral violations' have been filed in Tehran and other counties in the Tehran province. Esmaeili did not mention the number of individuals summoned or other details of these cases. Prior to the presidential elections, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, the Attorney General, and some other officials from the judiciary and security agencies had reported monitoring the online space regarding election news. Meanwhile, the Attorney General also mentioned holding meetings with Telegram channel managers during the elections and warning them about electoral violations. Reports also emerged during the elections about meetings between provincial prosecutors in Iran and managers of Telegram channels. The use of Telegram channels for advertising was a notable feature of this presidential election compared to previous ones in Iran. In this context, supporters of Hassan Rouhani and Ebrahim Raisi, the two rival candidates, accused each other of purchasing popular Telegram channels for election campaigning. However, the summoning of managers of several Telegram channels comes after 12 managers of channels close to the government and reformists were arrested last Esfand, with six of them still imprisoned. Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the judiciary spokesman, announced on Wednesday that indictments have been issued for eight of these individuals, and their cases have been sent to court. A day before these statements, 30 members of parliament had asked the Minister of Intelligence for a report on the status of the detainees, the reasons for their arrest, the proceedings regarding their charges, and the reasons for their continued detention and uncertainty. Meanwhile, Mahmoud Sadeghi, a Tehran representative in parliament, Hosam al-Din Ashna, an advisor to Hassan Rouhani, and several members of the Hope faction linked these arrests to the 2017 presidential election. On the other hand, Hassan Rouhani, the president, and Mahmoud Alavi, the Minister of Intelligence, have stated that the government opposes the arrest of Telegram channel managers. Nevertheless, the Attorney General has stated that the detained channel managers 'had planned for the elections,' and the judiciary spokesman has also said that their charges include publishing 'anti-security' content. Ahead of the presidential elections, the ability to make voice calls through the Telegram app was blocked just two days after being activated in Iran by a judicial order on April 16, and no reports of its reactivation have been published yet.