An Iranian court on Sunday convicted the Tehran bureau chief of the Thomson Reuters news agency of “propaganda-related offences” for a video that briefly described a group of women involved in martial arts training as killers. Parisa Hafezi was found guilty of “spreading lies” against the Islamic system for the February video, which initially carried a headline saying that the women were training as ninja “assassins.” A sentence by the court is expected within a week.
Yesterday Iran confirmed that its revolutionary guards corps (IRGC) forces are present in Syria helping Bashar al-Assad’s government fight rebel forces. General Mohammad Ali Jafari, Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, issued a further warning that it would get involved militarily if its Arab ally came under attack. British officials say that the IRGC has provided riot control equipment and technical advice on how to crush dissent, as well as providing support to improve monitor protestor’s use of the internet and mobile phone networks.
The Iranian government began censoring SMS discussions of its plummeting local currency on 10 September, following an exchange rate fall of almost eight per cent against the dollar. Iran’s mobile networks explicitly blocked messages containing the word ‘dollar’, as well as the local term for foreign money.
In recent weeks, Iran has clamped down on cultural institutions, including officially revoking the license of 27-year old publishing house Cheshmeh Publications, and shutting down the country’s independently-run House of Cinema. Here is a look at Iran’s latest restrictions on culture fromSmall Media, a London-based organisation that develops technology to promote the flow of information in closed societies.
