Iranian blogger Mehdi Khazali’s wife and daughter have allegedly been kidnapped by security forces and moved to an unknown location, it was reported yesterday. Khazali, a staunch critic of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran’s state policies, was sentenced to 13 years and 10 months in prison and 10 years in exile on 7 February for “insulting the supreme leader”. The blogger has been on hunger strike for 38 days.
Internet censorship has dramatically increased in Iran over the last week. On 7 February, internet users in Iran began reporting an increase in the blocking and filtering of certain kinds of internet traffic in the country. Many users complained of not being able to access HTTPS websites, the secure and encrypted version of HTTP protocol. Many banks, Google services, Twitter, Facebook, and Microsoft Hotmail use HTTPS to protect private data. Though there have been no official announcements regarding the changes, it is widely believed to be the first step towards a Halal internet.
Ten Iranian journalists were arrested in January as the government continued its crackdown on dissent ahead of March’s parliamentary elections. Recent reports identified three previously undisclosed arrests. Critical blogger Mehdi Khazali was arrested by security forces in Tehran on 9 January and charged with “insulting the supreme leader.” Authorities arrested Paris-based journalist Saeed Razavi Faghih on 17 January as he arrived at a Tehran airport; and on the same day security forces in Tabriz arrested Payman Pakmehr, founder of Tabriz news website, which covers the arrests of local activists, and charged him with “propagating against the regime.” Seven other journalists were also arrested last month.
BBC’s Persian TV service has faced further intimidation in Iran. It has been reported that relatives of BBC staff in London have been detained and threatened by Iranian intelligence agents; top presenters have been targeted by rumours; and one employee has subjected to an online interrogation in London after a family member in Iran was jailed.
Since its launch in 2009 channel has suffered jamming and deliberate attempts to interfere with its signal. Tensions between Britain and Iran have worsened in recent weeks, with British regulator Ofcom revoking Iranian state broadcaster Press TV’s UK licence last month for breaching the Communications Act.