Hardliners step up control of Internet

Reporters Without Borders expressed concern today at the setting up of a commission dominated by religious hardliners to monitor Internet news websites considered "illegal." Some of its members were officials of the ministry of intelligence, it noted. Regime conservatives have kept the Internet and its freedom of expression under attack for nearly three years now. The latest measure is aimed at news sites that are thriving because of the closure of reformist newspapers. At least 90 papers, half of them dailies, have been shut down since April 2000. The new commission, which includes officials of the culture and intelligence ministries and the state broadcasting company, is to supply a list of "illegal" websites to the posts and telecommunications ministry. It was set up at a recent meeting of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, headed by the all-powerful head of the judiciary, Mahmud Sharudi. On 2 January, intelligence minister Ali Yunessi denounced what he called the undeclared war being waged through Internet websites that he said were putting out rumours and disinformation about all the regime's officials and organisations. After the closure of a dozen newspapers in 2000, the reformists set up websites such as emrooz.org, rouydad.com and alliran.net which put out uncensored news. The regime's conservatives set up propaganda sites, such as daricheh.org, jebhe.com and bionvan.com, to preach a hard line. The coming to power in 1997 of reformist President Mohammad Khatami raised hopes among Internet users in Iran, where service providers (ISPs) and cybercafés have sprung up everywhere (about 1,500 in the capital alone) despite censorship of their activities. Privately-owned ISPs must get permission to operate from the ministries of intelligence and Islamic guidance and use filters on website viewing and e-mail messages. About 400 cybercafés were shut down in Teheran in May 2001. Some have since reopened, but in November that year, the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, chaired by President Khatami but dominated by hardliners, ordered all privately-owned ISPs to close or put themselves under government control.