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Iranian MP: Criticizing Digital Rights Bill is "Sabotage"

July 2, 2021
OstanWire
1 min read
Iranian MP: Criticizing Digital Rights Bill is "Sabotage"

The chairman of the Iranian parliament’s Cultural Committee has doubled down on a controversial bill that could see more restrictions imposed on Iranians’ internet access.

Speaking at Azad University on Thursday night, Morteza Aghatehrani told those present that he viewed the 130,000 social media posts against the new digital law one day as an act of “sabotage”. He added: “We will stand to the end to see the enactment of this law.”

The so-called “Bill for the Protection of Cyberspace Users” would see an increase in monitoring of internet traffic into and out of Iran by the armed forces and government figures barred from using certain foreign-made apps on their work devices.

Both people close to the current government and ordinary Iranians have demanded the proposals be scrapped, but it remains on the agenda.

On Thursday Aghatehrani added that digital issues, together with passing laws to make marriage easier, had been the committee’s two biggest concerns in the first year of the eleventh parliament.

“The cyberspace project [drafting the bill has finally come to an end after years of delay,” he said, “and the commission will soon take it to an open session of parliament.”

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