Iran bans 14 thousand websites and accounts weekly

Iranian Prosecutor Ahmad Ali Montazeri, who presides the Internet censorship Committee in the country, has banned and closed 14 thousand websites and social networking accounts in Iran.

In an interview with al-Khabar Iranian channel on Tuesday, Montazeri stressed that the main reason behind this decision was the content of these websites and pages that was “against the religion and ethics.”

Montazeri added: “we are under an attack targeting our religious and national values by foreign channels and hostile networks.”

However, human rights organizations said that the Iranian authorities are suppressing the freedom of expression because they are afraid that citizens would document and show the world the ongoing human rights abuses and public protests, as has happened in the revolution of 2009.

The Iranian Prosecutor stressed that President Hassan Rowhani and the Interior Minister Rahmani Fazli agree with him and have addressed “serious warnings” on this issue.

The Iranian authorities had waged a large campaign against social networking all around the country.

Security forces announced the arrest of young active men and women who were spotted by the “internet army” as organizing online catwalks on Instagram.

This article is also available on Al Arabiya.net