Iran's Religious Hardliners Target Satellite Internet, TV

by Yassaman Taghi Beigi

But despite popular resistance, satellite dishes are about to disappear from thousands of rooftops here in the Iranian capital, if the hardliners in Iran's government have their way.

Iran has seen a massive crackdown on satellite dishes since October, with the second stage of the operation launched last month. Authorities plan to confiscate at least 150,000 satellite dishes, and to penalize owners with heavy fines and even jail terms.

The move has upset not only ordinary citizens who have enjoyed the varied fare offered by satellite television, but also political reformers who had hoped for a freer flow of information under President Mohammad Khatami.

"It does not make sense in this day and age to block information, because citizens, using various means and methods, will ultimately gain access to the information they seek," argues legislator Mohammed Reza Saidee. "Trying to negate information is like shooting an arrow in the dark."

A ban on satellite dishes has been in place in Iran since 1995, as part of efforts to curb "decadent" Western culture. But it was largely ignored since the 1997 election of Khatami, who has spent the last four years trying to expand media freedom and introduce cultural and political reforms.

Some observers say Tehran already had about 500,000 households with satellite dishes before the ban, adding that the figure grew by leaps and bounds after Khatami's election.

Khatami's government, in fact, has proposed that the rules be relaxed. Last February, reformist candidates in the parliamentary elections also promised to repeal the ban once they became legislators.

Such promises have yet to be fulfilled, not because of a lack of effort on the part of reformist lawmakers but because of the opposition of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Earlier this year, the MPs attempted to amend the Press Law, but Khamenei told the Iranian Parliament, known as the Majlis, to "forget about it" for the time being.

In a letter to the Majlis Speaker, Khamenei said that the time was not "appropriate" for debate of the restrictive Press Law enacted by a conservative-dominated Parliament in 1999.

Ayatollah Khamenei has since come out strongly for a continued ban on satellite dishes.

He told Iranian publishers in a recent meeting, "We should not give in to Western cultural invasion just due to satellite technology advances and on the other hand drop the legal barriers for its expansion in the country."

"The enemies of the revolution try to confront us through cultural means and we have to resist," he added.

The ban has always been unpopular among the public, and authorities had apparently decided to turn a blind eye to the mushrooming of satellite dishes.

It was only last October that the conservative faction in the leadership finally saw a way to insist on enforcing the ban, after the broadcast the Soccer World Cup led to rioting.

Soccer matches often provide Iran's large youth population with an opportunity to ignore strict social rules, and the games two months ago inspired the usual rowdiness.

Some soccer fans who took to the streets in Tehran, however, smashed windows of banks and government buildings, and wrecked vehicles. Hundreds of young men were arrested after clashes broke out between rioters and the police.

Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani blamed the riots on opposition calls for demonstrations against the Islamic system that had been broadcast via satellite television.

"Bankrupt elements abroad are trying to use the satellite network to launch a political challenge. This shows that we have failed to seriously confront cultural threats," he said.

Revolutionary Court Head Mobasheri also vowed that his agency, "according to the law and its responsibilities, would have no mercy on those who wanted to create insecurity with their hooliganism and improper behavior."

"During the incidents," said the hardline cleric, "it was clear that two TV networks that are run by the anti-revolutionary elements in America incited young people to go into action. They have misused young people's emotions."

If the crackdown on satellite dishes were not enough, a conservative body announced a month later that private companies could no longer provide Internet service in Iran.

"Providing Internet service is a monopoly of the state," the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council (SCRC) said in its ruling. "Any organization providing this shall dismantle their installations or transfer them to the state sector within six months."

At present, Iranians have unrestricted Internet access. If enforced, the ban could affect an estimated 1,000 Internet service providers throughout the country.

The Majlis is expected to intervene in the dispute, but its decisions can be overruled by the Supreme Leader, whose position regarding this new ruling is still unknown.

Some lawmakers say the SCRC lacked the jurisdiction to issue a ruling on the Internet or other matters.

"According to the constitution, the only authority to enact laws in Iran is the parliament," says MP Mohammad Reza Tabesh. "The council has no legal right to ban or not to ban anything, including Internet access."

Indeed, the parliament this month opened discussions on amending the law that prohibits the use of satellite television.

Meantime, some newspapers have been fuming over what they see as attacks on press freedom. The English-language daily Iran News, for instance, has repeatedly called on parliament to reverse the ban on satellite dishes "so the country can join the 21st century."

It said in one editorial, "The whole argument boils down to this fact that today satellite reception is not a luxury reserved for a handful of privileged individuals, but a prodigious necessity."

"Those who are adamantly opposed to any softening of the position regarding the use of satellites must wake up to the shocking reality that satellites and Internet are, to their horror, facts of life in today's world," said the paper.

Dr. Kazem Motamed Nejad, a communication sciences professor, says that "mass communications media, such as cinema, the press, satellite dishes, the Internet and others, are principally legal unless otherwise stated by the constitution or international treaties."

"In Iran's constitution, all principles regarding freedom of speech have been anticipated," he says. "Therefore, any kind of limitation or restriction contradicts these principles."