Repression in Iran is also raging against the world of culture, digital and media after multiple arrests of actors, videographers or journalists.
The notorious Evin prison, north of Tehran, has been holding a famous actress, Taraneh Alidousti, since December 17. Movie headliner The customerwhich received the Oscar for best foreign language film in 2017, selected this year at Cannes for Leila and her brothers, she is undoubtedly the most renowned of the personalities imprisoned by the regime. Her fault is to have been outraged without a headscarf on Instagram at the execution of the first protester sentenced to death, Mohsen Shekari.
The actress has received the support of 500 big names in world cinema such as Ken Loach, Marion Cotillard, Pedro Almodovar or Kate Winslet. She has become the figurehead of the victims of a repression that strikes actresses as well as directors, screenwriters, or rapper Toomaj Salehi who has been charged, according to Amesty, “ for critiques made in his music and on social media “. With one particularity: they are then forbidden to leave their country.
► To read also: Germany: these elected officials who sponsor political prisoners in Iran
But the arrests also target reporters who do not censor themselves or are placed in preventive detention. According to Reporters Without Borders, since the protests began, 34 new journalists were placed behind bars, which brings to 47 the number of these professionals imprisoned. Of course, out of more than 18,200 thrown into cells, the bulk of the arrests are young connected demonstrators, but here too it is those who film with their telephones, citizen reporters, who are particularly targeted.
These young people have a VPN, which allows them to circumvent internet censorship, and they send videos which are taken up in London by the Iran International or BBC Persian channels. The regime reacts by arresting with a vengeance, but also by accusing the demonstrators of being rioters in the pay of Westerners. It is moreover to avoid broadcasting this propaganda that the European Union has imposed on Eutelsat to cease all broadcasting of the English-language Iranian channel Press TV.
Even if the mullahs’ regime is increasingly mastering social networks, as evidenced by its strict control of the Internet or its attempt to bribe German Instagram moderators, revealed by BBC Persian at the end of May, it still remains at the mercy of hacker groups. On October 8, on the state television newscast, Masah Amini’s face appeared below the burning face of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. With a message: “the blood of our youth is on your hands”. Already, a site abroad like Iran Wire works in open source to document the crackdown.