<
strong>Maryam Dastgir

Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi, Iran’s Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, said that the government would filter websites only if they publish false and inaccurate reports, or insult individuals or officials. Harandi’s remarks coincided with the latest round of attacks launched by websites close to the administration on government critics and former officials from the reformist administration.

In the past few months, websites affiliated with the administration have used their connections to publish a litany of charges against various individuals and organizations. These website have not only been spared the filtering by the ministry, but have even intensified their activities.

Last year, during former president Mohammad Khatami’s trip to the United States, Fatemeh Rajabi, who runs one of the closes websites to the administration, launched a harsh attack against the former president. Recently too, websites affiliated with the administration have accused former nuclear negotiators of illegal business dealings and espionage without providing any evidence. Many experts thus believe that the government’s filtering criteria practically applies only to websites that are critical of the administration’s performance.

Harrandi, who was formerly in charge of running the hardline Kayhan daily, continued, “We did not limit the activities of these websites until they insulted people. We have filtered website only when they have published reports that contained insults and false charges against individuals or officials.”

One must note that the filtering wave of the past few months has not been limited to websites that are openly critical of the government. Baztab website, which is a conservative website affiliated with the former commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Mohsen Rezai, was also filtered for publishing some critical reports on the administration’s performance.