IRAN- Since the situation in Iran is becoming increasingly volatile and state-organized protests are getting heated up, the new restriction by the Iran Government has made the situation more unmanageable.
As protests over the death of a young woman Mahsa Amini, in the care of the morality police rock the Islamic Republic, Iranian authorities have blocked internet access in the nation until the law and order are restored to the streets.
Since the murder of Mahsa Amini at the age of 22, who was detained in Tehran and transported to a “re-education center,” presumably for failing to properly wear her hijab, thousands of Iranians have flocked to the streets in protest.
At least 40 towns around the country, including the capital Tehran, have witnessed protests since last Friday, with demonstrators calling for an end to violence and discrimination against women as well as the requirement to wear the hijab.
The sheer violation of human rights for the women of Iran has always been under question. The Islamic Rule and Law of Iran have made the people of Iran suffer, especially the women, for long years.
Following skirmishes with security forces, dozens of demonstrators are said to have died. Nobody outside of the Iranian regime can confirm an exact number, however, various estimates have been made by opposition organizations, foreign human rights organizations, and local media.
On Friday, Amnesty International reported that at least 30 people—including four children—had perished; 35, according to state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. Authorities believe that by limiting internet access, they can manage the protests.
Iran’s Minister of Communications, Ahmad Vahidi, spoke with official broadcaster IRIB “The internet will be restricted until the riots end. We must impose internet restrictions in order to stop social media from being used to organize riots.”
Vahidi’s remarks followed social media footage of acts of public rebellion, including women taking off and burning their headscarves and protesters screaming “women, life, freedom.”
How Mahsa Amini became a symbol of defiance in Iran https://t.co/02JctZ75sG pic.twitter.com/2NOa6r52p3
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) September 22, 2022
The decision to tighten internet restrictions also came in response to a request from the UN for an impartial investigation into the death of Amini and for Iran’s security forces to stop using “disproportionate force” against the demonstrators.
Public skepticism over state officials’ claims that Amini died after having a “heart attack” and going into a coma has led to outrage over her passing. However, according to Amini’s family, she didn’t already have a cardiac problem.
Iranians are risking everything to demonstrate. Some of them, according to family, aren’t returning home. Since Amini’s execution, which has come to represent the decades-long, violent persecution of women in Iran, her name has gained notoriety on a global scale; this week, international leaders referred to her at the UN General Assembly in New York City.
The use of physical violence against women by state officials in Iran was sharply condemned by UN experts, according to the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Thursday. “According to Iranian authorities, (Amini) suffered a heart attack and passed away naturally. Amini’s death, according to some accounts, was allegedly caused by torture and another mistreatment, “In a statement, it was reported.
We demand that the Iranian authorities conduct a swift, unbiased, and impartial inquiry into Ms. Amini’s death, release the results to the public, and hold all responsible parties accountable, the statement continued.
Internet Shutdown In Iran-
According to the internet watchdog Netblocks, as long as the protests continue, Iran will experience a third wave of “nation-scale” loss of mobile internet connectivity. The watchdog group claimed earlier in the week that since the start of the protests, Instagram and WhatsApp have been banned in Iran and mobile networks have been largely shut down. These limitations are the most severe seen since 2019.
According to monitoring service AppBrain, Iranians both inside Iran and in the diaspora are using popular Virtual Private Network (VPN) providers like Tor Project and Hula VPN, which are among the most downloaded apps in Iran, to get around internet blocks. Google Play Store is a marketplace where Android smartphone users can download apps.
However, Netblocks has cautioned that the type of internet outage now occurring in the nation “cannot normally be worked around with the use of circumvention tools or VPNs.” In an effort to stop the development of statewide protests against fuel prices, authorities in Iran imposed similar internet restrictions in November 2019. As a result, Iranians were virtually cut off from the internet.
Hundreds of Iranian women burn their hijabs as they protest Mahsa Amini’s death. The “biggest internet blackout ever witnessed in Iran,” according to Oracle’s Internet Intelligence, was at the time. The Iranian government has also been the target of internet attacks in the previous week by the activist hacker collective Anonymous, which disclosed several website hacks on Thursday.
Using the hashtag #OpIran, which stands for Operation Iran and gained popularity on social media after the passing of Amini, Anonymous also claimed on Thursday that it had successfully hacked more than 1,000 Iranian CCTV cameras
UN Asks For Investigation-
In a statement released on Friday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed his concern over reports that peaceful protests had been met with excessive use of force, resulting in scores of fatalities and injuries. Dujarric stated at the daily briefing on UNTV, “We call on the security forces to stop using excessive or disproportionate force and encourage to everybody to exercise caution to avoid further escalation.”
Iran grapples with most serious challenge in years following the death of Mahsa Amini, writes BBC Persian's Rana Rahimpour https://t.co/S48rQUnqac
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) September 23, 2022
The UN urged authorities to “respect the right to freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, and association” and stated that it is closely monitoring the protests in Iran. In accordance with international law, we further urge the authorities to uphold women’s rights, end all forms of discrimination against women and girls, and put in place appropriate safeguards to keep them safe from other human rights breaches.
Guterres reaffirmed the need for a speedy inquiry into Amini’s killing by an “independent competent authority” made by the Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights.