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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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.