TEHRAN, Iran - An Iranian court has sentenced eight people
to jail terms ranging from seven to 20 years for crimes including
anti-regime propaganda posted on Facebook, an opposition website has
said.
It is report,
sentences were delivered last week giving the eight Facebook users a
combined 123 years in jail.
They were charged with “insulting the supreme leader (Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei) and the authorities, anti-regime activities, sacrilege and
spreading lies,” Kaleme said.
However, there was no official confirmation of the court ruling and AFP could not independently verify the report.
Access to the popular social networking site—along with others which
Iranian authorities regard as un-Islamic, immoral or undermining the
Islamic establishment—is obstructed by a massive filtering mechanism. But tech-savvy Iranians have resorted to measures, known as anti-filters, to circumvent the restrictions.
According to report, an Iranian-born British woman is among the eight sentenced to prison.
Roya Saberinejad Nobakht(pic) was reportedly arrested in Shiraz last
autumn for comments she had made on her Facebook page, and was sentenced
to 20 years in jail.
The report comes amid an ongoing clash between the hardliners and
moderates, backed by President Hassan Rouhani, over Internet freedom in
Iran.
Rouhani argues against fears that the Internet and its social media
platforms pose a major 
risk to the Islamic republic’s cultural and
religious values, saying it must embrace the technology to progress.
risk to the Islamic republic’s cultural and
religious values, saying it must embrace the technology to progress.
Earlier this month, he vetoed a plan to ban WhatsApp, preventing
implementation of curbs sought by a hardline committee in charge of web
censorship.
But his push for social freedoms has angered conservatives who hold sway over several key institutions, including the judiciary.
Last week, the authorities arrested six young Iranians for dancing to
US singer Pharrell Williams’ hit “Happy” in a video that went viral. The six were later released on bail.
Source: AFP.
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