Thirteen deputies protest to President Ahmadinejad over Internet censorship

Reporters Without Borders welcomed an initiative by 13 Iranian deputies who have written to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to protest against censorship of the Internet, which they described as “unconstitutional”. The worldwide press freedom organisation also noted that several news websites, until now tolerated by the authorities, have recently been blocked. “It is encouraging to see representatives of the Iranian people campaigning against web censorship”, said Reporters Without Borders. “Their letter suggests that contrary to the claims of the regime's officials, the government's filtering policy is far from universally popular with the people.” In their 13 December 2005 letter, the 13 deputies, all close to the reformist camp, said that filtering certain websites, particularly scientific publications, was “contrary to the constitution and laws” of the country. They said that only “immoral” sites could legally be banned. The Iranian representatives urged the head of state, who is guarantor of the constitution, to lift filtering of three news websites: www.mellimazhabi.org, www.emrouz.info and www.rooydadnews.com. Three further sites were banned by the authorities between November and December: a foreign-based online newspaper http://roozonline.com, the website of the liberal political movement www.mizannews.com and news site www.ashoob.com, run by Iranian students.