Censorship in Iran
Encyclopedia
Censorship in Iran
is the limiting or suppressing of the publishing, dissemination, and viewing of certain information in the Islamic Republic of Iran
. The majority of such censorship is implemented or mandated by the Iranian government
.
Censored content often includes information that relates to women's rights
, freedom of speech
, democracy
, pornography
, certain news sources, certain religious content, and many websites.
Censored media include essentially all capable of reaching an even marginal audience, including television, print media, radio, film, museum and gallery exhibits, and the Internet. Iranians attempting to access most informational databases and search engines are met with a page reading: "The requested page is forbidden." Most forms of media are vetted for acceptability by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.
Reporters Without Borders
ranks Iran's press situation as "Very serious", the worst ranking on their five-point scale. Iran's Internet censorship policy is labeled "Pervasive" by the OpenNet Initiative
's global Internet filtering map, also the worst ranking used.
, or religious proponents, peaceful or otherwise, from organizing themselves and spreading their ideals. In 2007, for example, five women were charged with "endangering national security" and sentenced to prison for collecting over a million signatures supporting the abolishment of laws discriminating against women.
Additionally, censorship prevents Iranian citizens from discovering or learning more about past and current failures and abuses of the government that could create or inflame anti-government sentiment. Some of the topics explicitly banned from discussion in the media by the Supreme National Security Council
include Iran's economic troubles
, the possibility of new international sanctions targeted at Iran's nuclear program
, negotiations with the United States
regarding Iraq
, social taboos, unrest among Iran's Azeri
and other ethnic minorities, and, more recently, the arrests of Haleh Esfandiari
, Kian Tajbakhsh
and Ali Shakeri
.
And in April 2000, when the conservative-controlled judiciary launched "a wide-ranging crackdown" against the then flowering of democratic reformism. Nearly all of the reformist dailies were closed and many leading journalists jailed.
Despite a strict ban on satellite television, dishes dot many Iranian rooftops and people have access to dozens of Persian-language channels, including the Voice of America
, broadcasting a daily dose of politics and entertainment. 30 percent of Iranians watch satellite channels, but observers say the figures are likely to be higher.
A number of unauthorised foreign radio services also broadcast into Iran on shortwave
, and encounter occasional jamming by the Iranian government due to their controversial nature. Such services include a popular phone-in programme from Kol Israel (Voice of Israel), where callers must dial a number in Europe to be rerouted to the studio in Israel in order to protect against persecution for communicating with an enemy state.
In March 2009, Amoo Pourang (Uncle Pourang), an Iranian children television show watched by millions of Iranian children three times a week on state TV was pulled off after a child appearing on the program called his pet monkey
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad live on air. In the 1980s, Ruhollah Khomeini
, leader of the Iranian Revolution
, pronounced death sentences for the makers of a radio
programme in which a female respondent named a Japanese soap opera character as her role model
, rather than Fatimah
, the daughter of prophet
of Islam
Muhammad
.The death sentence was later revoked.
have been known to participate in the assault, vandalism and ransacking of journalists and news organizations perceived as critical of Islam
or its major figures, such as Ayatollah Khomeini.
In 2007, after student newspapers at Amirkabir University of Technology
published articles suggesting that no human being—including Muhammad
--could be infallible, eight student leaders were removed to Evin Prison
.
. When initially introduced, the Internet services provided by the government within Iran
were comparatively open. Many users saw the Internet as an easy way to get around Iran's strict press laws.
In recent years, Internet service providers have been told to block access to political, human rights and women's sites and weblogs expressing dissent or deemed to be pornographic and anti-Islamic. The ban has also targeted such popular social networking sites as Facebook and YouTube, as well as news sites.
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
is the limiting or suppressing of the publishing, dissemination, and viewing of certain information in the Islamic Republic of Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. The majority of such censorship is implemented or mandated by the Iranian government
Politics of Iran
The politics of Iran take place in a framework of theocracy guided by an Islamist ideology. The December 1979 constitution, and its 1989 amendment, define the political, economic, and social order of the Islamic Republic of Iran, declaring that Shi'a Islam of the Twelver school of thought is...
.
Censored content often includes information that relates to women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
, freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
, democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
, pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
, certain news sources, certain religious content, and many websites.
Censored media include essentially all capable of reaching an even marginal audience, including television, print media, radio, film, museum and gallery exhibits, and the Internet. Iranians attempting to access most informational databases and search engines are met with a page reading: "The requested page is forbidden." Most forms of media are vetted for acceptability by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...
ranks Iran's press situation as "Very serious", the worst ranking on their five-point scale. Iran's Internet censorship policy is labeled "Pervasive" by the OpenNet Initiative
OpenNet Initiative
The OpenNet Initiative is a joint project whose goal is to monitor and report on internet filtering and surveillance practices by nations. The project employs a number of technical means, as well as an international network of investigators, to determine the extent and nature of government-run...
's global Internet filtering map, also the worst ranking used.
Subject matter and agenda
Censorship in Iran encompasses a wide range of subject matter. The agendas behind such censorship are varied; some are stated outright by Iranian government itself and some are surmised by observers inside and out of the country.Political
Censorship in Iran is largely seen as a measure to maintain the stability of the country and the control of the Islamic government. Censorship helps prevent unapproved reformist, counter-revolutionaryIranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
, or religious proponents, peaceful or otherwise, from organizing themselves and spreading their ideals. In 2007, for example, five women were charged with "endangering national security" and sentenced to prison for collecting over a million signatures supporting the abolishment of laws discriminating against women.
Additionally, censorship prevents Iranian citizens from discovering or learning more about past and current failures and abuses of the government that could create or inflame anti-government sentiment. Some of the topics explicitly banned from discussion in the media by the Supreme National Security Council
Supreme National Security Council
Supreme National Security Council is the national security council of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the current secretary of which is Saeed Jalili. This institution was founded during the 1989 revision of the constitution...
include Iran's economic troubles
Economy of Iran
The economy of Iran is the eighteenth largest in the world by purchasing power parity and according to Iranian officials' claims is going to become the 12th largest by 2015. The economy of Iran is a mixed and transition economy with a large public sector and some 50% of the economy centrally planned...
, the possibility of new international sanctions targeted at Iran's nuclear program
Nuclear program of Iran
The nuclear program of Iran was launched in the 1950s with the help of the United States as part of the Atoms for Peace program. The support, encouragement and participation of the United States and Western European governments in Iran's nuclear program continued until the 1979 Iranian Revolution...
, negotiations with the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
regarding Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, social taboos, unrest among Iran's Azeri
Azerbaijani people
The Azerbaijanis are a Turkic-speaking people living mainly in northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as in the neighbourhood states, Georgia, Russia and formerly Armenia. Commonly referred to as Azeris or Azerbaijani Turks , they also live in a wider area from the Caucasus to...
and other ethnic minorities, and, more recently, the arrests of Haleh Esfandiari
Haleh Esfandiari
Haleh Esfandiari is an Iranian American academic and the Director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. Her areas of expertise include Middle Eastern women's issues, contemporary Iranian intellectual currents and politics, and...
, Kian Tajbakhsh
Kian Tajbakhsh
Kian Tajbakhsh is an Iranian-American scholar, sociologist and urban planner. He is a dual citizen of the United States and Iran, and has taught at both American and Iranian universities. Tajbakhsh is also an international expert in the areas of local government reform, urban planning, public...
and Ali Shakeri
Ali Shakeri
Ali Shakeri is an Iranian-American businessman and activist. He graduated from the University of Texas with a business administration degree. He serves on the Community Advisory Board of the Center for Citizen Peacebuilding at the University of California, Irvine...
.
Media
Two notable crackdowns on the Iranian press occurred on August 7–11, 1979, early in the Islamic Revolution when the Khomeini forces were consolidating control and dozens of non-Islamist newspapers were banned under a new press law banning "counter-revolutionary policies and acts."And in April 2000, when the conservative-controlled judiciary launched "a wide-ranging crackdown" against the then flowering of democratic reformism. Nearly all of the reformist dailies were closed and many leading journalists jailed.
Despite a strict ban on satellite television, dishes dot many Iranian rooftops and people have access to dozens of Persian-language channels, including the Voice of America
Voice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
, broadcasting a daily dose of politics and entertainment. 30 percent of Iranians watch satellite channels, but observers say the figures are likely to be higher.
A number of unauthorised foreign radio services also broadcast into Iran on shortwave
Shortwave
Shortwave radio refers to the upper MF and all of the HF portion of the radio spectrum, between 1,800–30,000 kHz. Shortwave radio received its name because the wavelengths in this band are shorter than 200 m which marked the original upper limit of the medium frequency band first used...
, and encounter occasional jamming by the Iranian government due to their controversial nature. Such services include a popular phone-in programme from Kol Israel (Voice of Israel), where callers must dial a number in Europe to be rerouted to the studio in Israel in order to protect against persecution for communicating with an enemy state.
In March 2009, Amoo Pourang (Uncle Pourang), an Iranian children television show watched by millions of Iranian children three times a week on state TV was pulled off after a child appearing on the program called his pet monkey
Monkey
A monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys...
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad live on air. In the 1980s, Ruhollah Khomeini
Ruhollah Khomeini
Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini was an Iranian religious leader and politician, and leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution which saw the overthrow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran...
, leader of the Iranian Revolution
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
, pronounced death sentences for the makers of a radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
programme in which a female respondent named a Japanese soap opera character as her role model
Role model
The term role model generally means any "person who serves as an example, whose behaviour is emulated by others".The term first appeared in Robert K. Merton's socialization research of medical students...
, rather than Fatimah
Fatimah
Fatimah was a daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad from his first wife Khadijah bint Khuwaylid. She is regarded by Muslims as an exemplar for men and women. She remained at her father's side through the difficulties suffered by him at the hands of the Quraysh of Mecca...
, the daughter of prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
.The death sentence was later revoked.
Religious
The agents of censorship are sometimes not official government employees, but religious organizations (although these can operate in tandem with government agencies). Koranic schoolsMadrasah
Madrasah is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious...
have been known to participate in the assault, vandalism and ransacking of journalists and news organizations perceived as critical of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
or its major figures, such as Ayatollah Khomeini.
In 2007, after student newspapers at Amirkabir University of Technology
Amirkabir University of Technology
Amirkabir University of Technology , formerly called the Tehran Polytechnic is a public research university located in Tehran, Iran. AUT is one of the most prestigious universities and the first established technical university in Iran...
published articles suggesting that no human being—including Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
--could be infallible, eight student leaders were removed to Evin Prison
Evin Prison
Evin House of Detention is a prison in Iran, located in Evin, northwestern Tehran. It is noted for its political prisoners' wing, where prisoners have been held both before and after the 1979 Iranian Revolution...
.
Internet Censorship in Iran
In the first decade of the 21st century, Iran experienced a great surge in Internet usage, and, with 20 million people on the Internet, currently has the second highest percentage of its population online in the Middle East, after IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. When initially introduced, the Internet services provided by the government within Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
were comparatively open. Many users saw the Internet as an easy way to get around Iran's strict press laws.
In recent years, Internet service providers have been told to block access to political, human rights and women's sites and weblogs expressing dissent or deemed to be pornographic and anti-Islamic. The ban has also targeted such popular social networking sites as Facebook and YouTube, as well as news sites.
Books
- "The Satanic VersesThe Satanic VersesThe Satanic Verses is Salman Rushdie's fourth novel, first published in 1988 and inspired in part by the life of Prophet Muhammad. As with his previous books, Rushdie used magical realism and relied on contemporary events and people to create his characters...
" - "Da Vinci Code"
- "Memories of My Melancholy WhoresMemories of My Melancholy WhoresMemories of My Melancholy Whores is a novella by Gabriel García Márquez....
"
Films
- ...More Than 1000 Words...More Than 1000 Words'...More Than 1000 Words' is a documentary film written, directed, shot, and edited by Solo Avital.The film explores the relationship between the photographer Ziv Koren and his work covering the Israel-Palestine conflict. It depicts his involvement covering various events over a two-year period up...
- The Circle
- Crimson GoldCrimson GoldCrimson Gold is a 2003 Iranian film directed by Jafar Panahi, and written by Abbas Kiarostami. The film was never distributed in Iranian theatres, because it was considered too "dark"...
- Half MoonHalf Moon (film)Half Moon is a 2006 film written and directed by the Iranian Kurdish filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi. Half Moon is a joint production of Iran, Austria, France and Iraq...
- Offside
- Tcherike-ye Tara
- TenTen (film)Ten is a 2002 Iranian film directed by Abbas Kiarostami and starring Mania Akbari. It was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival and ranks at number 447 on Empire magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time...
- Santouri
- Marmoulak
- Time of LoveTime of LoveTime of Love is a 1990 film by Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, based on a story written by Makhmalbaf himself. The film consists of three episodes, all with relatively similar plots. Although categorized as an Iranian film, Time of Love was mostly shot in Istanbul, Turkey and the dialogues are...
See also
- Freedom of speech in Iran
- Nashravaran Journalistic InstituteNashravaran Journalistic InstituteNashravaran Journalistic Institute is the Iranian government agency that handles censorship of international magazines and books....
- Islamic Republic of Iran BroadcastingIslamic Republic of Iran BroadcastingIslamic Republic of Iran Broadcaster, or IRIB, , formerly called the National Iranian Radio and Television until the Islamic revolution of 1979, is a giant Iranian corporation in control of radio and television which is among the largest media organizations in Asia and Pacific region, and a regular...
- Islamic Revolutionary CourtIslamic Revolutionary CourtIslamic Revolutionary Court is a special court in the Islamic Republic of Iran designed to try those suspected of smuggling, blaspheming, inticing violence or trying to overthrow the Iranian government...
for slandering the Supreme Leaders - Communications in IranCommunications in IranIran’s telecommunications industry is almost entirely state-owned, dominated by the Telecommunication Company of Iran . Fixed-line penetration in 2004 was relatively well-developed by regional standards, standing at 22 lines per 100 people, higher than Egypt with 14 and Saudi Arabia with 15,...
- International rankings of Iran
External links
- Hejazi, Arash, ‘You don’t deserve to be published’ Book Censorship in Iran, LOGOS: The Journal of the World Book Community, Volume 22, Number 1, 2011 , pp. 53-62(10), DOI: 10.1163/095796511X562644
- Music censorship incidents in Iran - reported by Freemuse
- Committee against censorship (Iran Proxy) - ANti Censorship Committee in Iran
- Pictures of Iranian Censorship - Examples of Iranian Censorship in Western Magazines
- I will not register my site - Antiregistering website & blogs logo and Censorship google bombing.]
- Banned Magazine, the online journal of censorship and secrecy
- Iran's Digital Underground by David Feith, The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
, August 10, 2009 - Iran Electoral Archive - Media & Censorship