Iranian news website operator gets 15-month suspended jail term

AFP: An Iranian operating a news website from the central clerical city of Qom has received a 15-month suspended jail term amid a jusicial crackdown on Internet writing, the state news agency IRNA reported Thursday. An appeals court in Qom handed Hamed Motaghi the sentence for publishing “false information” and “disturbing public order” with his Naghshineh website, which was also closed down.
AFP

TEHRAN – An Iranian operating a news website from the central clerical city of Qom has received a 15-month suspended jail term amid a jusicial crackdown on Internet writing, the state news agency IRNA reported Thursday.

An appeals court in Qom handed Hamed Motaghi the sentence for publishing “false information” and “disturbing public order” with his Naghshineh website, which was also closed down.

The judiciary, a bastion of Iran’s religious right-wing, has in recent months been engaged in a crackdown on Internet activities in the Islamic republic.

Since early September, some 20 writers and technicians have been arrested in the swoop on cyberspace. Of them 12 were released over the past 10 days.

The judiciary has also obliged Internet service providers to impose tough filtering on web access.

On October 12, the judiciary said it would soon begin legal proceedings against those arrested in the crackdown, with charges including “propogating against the regime”, “acting against national security”, “causing public disorder” and “insulting religious values”.