Sham Election and the role of social media
Despite all the restrictions on internet in Iran, in the run up to sham
presidential elections, Iranian youth have found ways to circumvent
these restrictions and social networks are filled with remarks questioning the
integrity of the elections. This has angered the regime officials who continually express anxiety
about it. Almost no day passes by without giving notices and warnings in this
regard and large-scale arrest of social network managers are widely reported.
These activities clearly unveil the hollowness of the election show and
simultaneously expose the criminal records of all presidential candidates and
the supreme leader’s ominous plans. The popular slogan that declares, “Iranian
people’s vote is to overthrow of the regime” has been widely seen on social
networks. PMOI supporters have an active role in these online campaigns, who
are also involved in hanging banners reading “No to sham elections” or pictures
of Maryam Rajavi in the streets of Tehran and number of other cities.
A glimpse at users’ posts in Twitter and Telegram (since the regime
cannot control them, they are more popular inside Iran) and their reflection on
Twitter networks of Iranian expats in the Twitter space provides a better picture
of what has caused the regime anger.
In Social media, the record of Ebrahim Raisi (favorite candidate by
the faction affiliated to the regime’s Supreme Leader Khamenei) in killings and
especially the massacre of 1988 is widely distributed, but users have at the
same time criticized Hassan Rouhani asking him where he was in 1988 during mass
executions. Some also mentioned Rouhani’s calls for more executions and repression
in Friday prayers… and have attached newspaper cuttings.
Some of the remarks in social media include: “My vote is regime
change”, “death to the principle of velayat-e faqih”, or mocking Rouhani where
he said, "We have a country and all Iranian citizens must have equal
rights", by saying “Such as the legitimate right of one execution every 8
hour”. Another user has written about Raisi: “What happened in the summer of
1988? Why the record of one month is missing from your campaign record?” Or
distribution of calls of some personalities like Mr. Mohammad Maleki, the first
Tehran University Chancellor after the fall of the Shah's regime who has been
in prison and under torture for many years in the mullahs’ regime. He said: “We
don’t have elections in Iran, we have selections”, and “I don’t participate in
the election as I don’t see any election”.
Massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988, most of whom PMOI
members, and Raisi’s role as one of the members of the Death Commission, as
well as Rouhani’s calls for large scale public executions, is covered
extensively on social networks. Raisi’s campaign has defended the massacre against
these disclosures and said it was necessary to protect the regime. But Rouhani has
maintained silence against the question of “Where were you in 1988?” or the
newspaper clips where he called for “execution of conspirators in the Friday prayers".
Social media also published activities of the brave forces
and supporters of the Iranian resistance in response to the resistance’s call
for boycotting the election in large-scale, and covered video clips and photos
related to these measures, such as installing placards and distributing statements
or banners in different parts of large cities or highways. URL of clips prepared
in relation to these activities and widely distributed in the social media are
as follows:
A look at the warnings and threats of the regime’s
media on users' activities on social media outlets shows the effectiveness of
these activities.
Jomhouri newspaper wrote: "With presidential elections
approaching, counter-revolutionary groups become more active to confront people’s
presence at the polls. Grouplets … ask people to boycott the election."
ISNA quoted the Interior Ministry of the mullahs as saying: "Following
the instructions on election campaigns in cyberspace, the full text of the
guidelines was published. Election campaigns in the cyberspace is limited to
related rules and laws… Publication of criminal contents such as defamation,
insult, leaking of secrets (including from the candidates and their supporters)
in cyberspace is prohibited according to Islamic penal code and computer crime
laws and violators will be dealt with according to the rules and
regulations."
Prosecutor’s office of South Khorasan Province, on Sunday, April 30,
in a statement warned: “administrators of cyber networks must uphold red lines
of the elections. Otherwise violators will face judicial repercussions.”
On the other hand Tasnim news agency of the regime, on Monday, May
8, in an article under the title of “four techniques of cyberspace rumors” to
influence the sham election of the regime, pleaded its frustration about the
impacts of cyber networks and in particular Instagram and Telegram. Tasnim
wrote: "the enemies of the people and the wave of rumors intend to
influence the result of the upcoming elections… Some rumors can greatly disrupt
psychological security and people's lives but unfortunately to confront and
respond to these rumors we suffer from two important issues;
First, lack of knowledge in the cyberspace and the media among the people
and the other, lack of knowledge and decision-making of authorities or
sometimes deliberate negligence on rumors and injuries arising from the
cyberspace and the media, this issue today has greatly reduced our position on
the use of virtual space based on the skills on media and related tools.
The most important point in this regard is that tools such as
telegram and Instagram that today are working freely and without any
accountability to the conditions and laws and even customs of our country, are the
bed of rumors and psychological warfare of the ill-wishers of the Iranian
nation and infiltration current."
Also
in response to the call for a boycott of election, high and low ranking regime
officials in recent days have used every opportunity to emphasize on the
"religious duty" to participate in "election" and express
concern to the disruption of the sham election. But despite all the threats and
warnings, Internet users have exposed the regime's attempts to confront the
boycott of the election and activities on social media by making a mockery of
these threats.
Mockery of the regime's elections by foreign media (Wall Street
Journal-Hill)
Reflection of the boycotting the regime’s election and hollowness of this show on social media:
