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For the Iranian government, even text messages have become an alleged crime (Photo: kamshots)

Jailing Iran’s Internet, one user at a time

For the Iranian government, even text messages have become an alleged crime.

This September, the Revolutionary Guards arrested 11 people in the province of Shiraz for sending joke messages through the Viber application, poking fun at the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini.

Arrestees were later forced to make television confessions. Now, officials are using this recent texting fad as an excuse to call for more Internet controls.

With accusations of conspirac...

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The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s, not those of EUobserver

Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's Foreign Affairs Editor. He has been writing about foreign and security affairs for EUobserver since 2005. He is Polish but grew up in the UK. He has also written for The Guardian, The Telegraph, and The Times of London.

For the Iranian government, even text messages have become an alleged crime (Photo: kamshots)

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Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's Foreign Affairs Editor. He has been writing about foreign and security affairs for EUobserver since 2005. He is Polish but grew up in the UK. He has also written for The Guardian, The Telegraph, and The Times of London.

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