Iran’s attorney general has indicted information and communications technology minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, among other things for failing to properly implement internet censorship policies.
Jahromi, the youngest member of President Hassan Rouhani’s cabinet and responsible for introducing fourth-generation (4G) broadband cellular network technology in Iran bucked the trend followed by previous generations of the Islamic Republic’s civil service by siding with the country’s youth in the fight against the shutdown of popular social media apps like Instagram and WhatsApp in recent years.
The charges against the ‘rising star’ include ignoring a ruling on blocking Instagram and virtual private networks (VPNs) inside Iran and failing to limit the speed of mobile Internet and ADSL in the country at the request of the judiciary.
Reports from Iran’s news agency said the judiciary had determined that Jahromi’s reluctance to mess with their decrees constituted a “crime”. He is now due to appear before the Culture and Media Prosecutor’s Office to answer questions in the coming weeks, after being released on bail by Iran’s attorney general on January 20.
A 2013 law authorizes the Department of Information Technology to lock down certain aspects of the internet and limit internet speeds.
In 2017, when Jahromi started his role as minister, he openly criticized the judiciary after it disconnected the internet in the country for 10 days after nationwide riots.
He wrote: “These 10 days have been 10 years for me.” “Security is important, but only if it goes hand in hand with freedom,” he added.
Mahmoud Vaezi, the Rouhani administration’s first ICT minister, also ran into trouble with the law. He initially refused to bow to an edict cutting popular messaging app Telegram. It was shut down entirely in 2018 in Iran after refusing to share user information with the government.
Some speculate that the reformists could nominate Jahromi to run in the presidential election scheduled for this year.
Iran expert and director of the Iran Future Initiative at the Atlantic Council, Barbara Slavin, commented on Twitter on reports suggesting that the different factions of the Islamic Republic “are turning against each other. others”.
