Government wants all news sites dealing with Iran to be registered

Reporters Without Borders voiced concern today about a government decision, taken at a cabinet meeting on 27 November, that all websites dealing with Iran will have to register with the culture ministry in the next two months. The new rule will probably be difficult to implement and seems designed above all to give the authorities grounds to close down independent news sites. “Other countries such as China and Bahrain have tried to force online publications to register but none have succeeded,” the press freedom organisation said. “It will be impossible to force the tens of thousands for websites dealing with Iran, most of which are hosted on servers abroad, to register with the authorities. But this rule could serve as pretext for arbitrarily closing or filtering news websites. It will give a legal basis for the online censorship that already exists in Iran.” Baztab.org, a conservative website that supports Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and often criticises President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's policies, has protested against the decision. “It is not up to the government to take a position on this type of subject,” the site said. “It is a matter for parliament. This rule is therefore illegal and unconstitutional.” Filtering rendered Baztab temporarily inaccessible inside Iran in October. The cabinet also listed the kind of websites that should be deemed “illegal” - those that insult Islam or other monotheistic religions, those that disseminate separatist ideologies and those that publish false information or threaten individual privacy. A blogger, Arash Sigarchi, has been imprisoned in Iran since January for “insulting the Supreme Guide” and “propaganda against the regime.” See: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=12384