It seems that the Iranian government isn’t too fond of its citizens using Facebook. A Court in Tehran, the capital of Iran, has sentenced eight Facebook users to a total of 123 years behind bars on the grounds of spreading “propaganda against the state” and “insulting the Supreme Leader.”
The eight Iranians civilians who were arrested last year by the Cyber Unit of the Revolutionary Guard were prosecuted on the basis of posting provoking content on Facebook which clearly did not settle well with the Iranian mullahs.
The verdict was issued by Judge Mohammad Moghiseh and it is significantly harsher that what the Iranian Law permits. It can be inferred that such a punishment was issued in order to discourage the use of social networking blogs and websites in Iran.
Gissou Nia, the executive director of the The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, remarked that the Judge accidentally based his ruling on “a new and controversial provision” of the country’s penal code which allows significantly harsher punishments on such offenses.
Very limited information is known about the convicted individuals, apart from their names and respective jail sentences.
Roya Saberinejad Nobakht, 20 years
Amir Golestani, 20 years and one day
Masoud Ghasemkhani, 19 years, 91 days
Fariborz Kardarfar, 18 years, 91 days
Seyed Masoud Seyed Talebi, 15 years, one day
Amin (Farid) Akramipour, 13 years
Mehdi Reyshahri, 11 years.
Naghmeh Shahsavandi Shirazi, 7 years and 91 days
Among the group, Roya Saberinejad Nobakht presents an interesting opportunity for the UK government to possibly intervene as she happens to be a British national.
The 47 year old, who was detained last year, was visiting Iran and was arrested last year ever since she had a private conversation with her friends on Facebook bashing Iran’s government as rigid and too Islamic. Based on her foreign nationality and critical private remarks regarding the establishment, she was further accused of being a spy, as well.
The British government acknowledged the arrest but declined to comment on sensitive questions.
“We are aware that a British national has received a custodial sentence in Iran,” a representative for the U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office said. “We are seeking to establish the full facts and are following up the case with the Iranian authorities.”
Despite Iranian courts issuing mind boggling punishments on using social media website and services, the tech savvy Iranian youth is boldly skirting the ban by the use of proxy servers using Turkish IP addresses.
An avid Internet surfer in Tehran requesting anonymity, remarked on the whole issue by saying: “We are doing great. I’m using my own hotspot and other people’s different VPNs.”
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