The Conviction of Soheil Arabi: A Symbol of Internet Freedom Suppression

Ed Royce, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the United States, called for global unity for internet freedom in an article published on Monday in a local California newspaper. This senior Republican congressman began his article by referencing the situation of Soheil Arabi, an Iranian prisoner sentenced to death. He wrote, "Soheil Arabi will soon feel the noose around his neck. This 30-year-old father is awaiting execution in Iran for a crime he did not commit; he has killed no one and has not stolen anything. The crime for which Mr. Arabi was convicted is writing on several pages of his Facebook, which was deemed insulting to religion." The article continues to state that the harsh treatment of Soheil Arabi represents one of the fundamental challenges his generation faces, noting, "The internet is a new arena for one of our oldest struggles; the struggle for the right to freedom of expression." Royce then pointed to internet restrictions in countries like Russia and China, stating that Putin's government uses the internet as a weapon against democracy. The article also discusses China's actions to combat freedom of expression on the internet, mentioning that "thousands of Chinese government employees monitor internet pages to gather information that the government can use to block those pages. China has also employed technical methods such as keyword filtering for internet censorship." According to this Republican representative, while internet users worldwide have reached over 40% of the global population, the level of internet freedom has decreased for the fourth consecutive year, with online censorship becoming more complex and aggressive. Royce stated that internet freedom is not just an American value but a global one, with people around the world fighting for this freedom. In Cuba, people download content from the internet to share with each other to combat access restrictions. In Turkey, when the government blocked YouTube and Twitter, internet freedom advocates used murals to teach people how to bypass government restrictions using their social networks. The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee wrote that we must not allow restrictive governments to prevail and must ensure the continuity of the global internet flow. He noted that the Foreign Affairs Committee is focused on this issue and is working to pressure the U.S. government to provide a clear strategic plan to reverse the concerning trend of declining internet freedom.