The Iranian regime has been enforcing its so-called “Internet Protection Bill” in recent months, limiting people’s access to the online world of free information and disrupting the link between the Iranian Resistance and the rest of society. The Iranian people have been confronting this decision since it was made public. The regime has been rushing to put its decision into effect, and officials have continued to pass the issue around like a ticking bomb to avoid taking responsibility. This is because they are aware that the consequences of their decision will be felt in the near future.

 

The failure of the regime’s attempts to restrict the internet and replace it with a state-controlled system was reflected in Iran’s state-run daily Kayhan, which serves as the voice of supreme leader Ali Khamenei. The ‘Cyberspace Users Rights Protection Plan’ is the name given to the regime’s project.” While many countries throughout the world have passed regulations in the realm of cyberspace,” the publication mourned, “the idea to legalize cyberspace met with a thought-provoking fate that has to be explored.”

 

Three UN human rights academics cautioned in a letter about the consequences of the Iranian regime’s internet control measure. The signatories, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran Javaid Rehman, Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of expression, and Alexandra Xanthaki, Special Rapporteur on cultural rights, warned that the new law would effectively isolate Iran from the global internet.

 

Friday Prayer speeches, which are led by officials of Iranian regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei, reflect the Iranian regime’s policy focus and directions. The Friday Prayers this week reflected the chaos and uncertainty surrounding critical domestic and foreign policy problems.”This plan is still being considered,” Ahmad Khatami, deputy-Speaker of the Assembly of Experts and Tehran’s Friday Prayer leader, said of the controversial internet filtering plan. “Why are you speaking critically? Why are we speaking with anger?” Khatami’s comments reflect a pervasive sense of desperation and frustration among regime leaders as they try to reconcile the widening divides among the elite on important policy matters.