Saturday, February 28, 2015

Iran: Stop Arresting Social Media Users and Release Social Media Activists Deadline: Ongoing - ONLINE PETITION

Submitted by one of our members:
     Ayatollah Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran, has urged Western youth to use social media to learn about Islam through his #letter4u campaign, but arrests Iranian citizens for using the same tools. In February, the Iranian officials went on television to boast the arrests of 12 individuals for “illicit” activities on Facebook–– activities which included discussions of art and photographs taken at weddings. The individuals were discovered by a recent surveillance program launched by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Cyber Defense Command, codenamed “Operation Spider.” The aim of the program is to shut down social media pages deemed to be “spreading corruption” and “carrying out a mission to change family lifestyles.” In reality, Spider is just another tool for the Iranian government to hinder freedom of opinion and expression. Click here to ask Ayatollah Khamenei to stop arresting social media users and to release Roya Saberinejad Nobakht (pictured) and other social media activities.