Protesters warned against rallying people through internet

Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam

Iranian Security Force Commander, Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam warned protesters that those who try “to rally people for disturbances by sending emails or text messages” will be harshly confronted by the force.

Commander Ahmadi Moghaddam told ISNA: “They should not believe that use of anti-proxies will stop us from identifying them.”

The use of emails and internet social networking sites by Iranian protesters in the post-election events to rally support for protests and street demonstrations has become somewhat legendary. The government repeatedly filters internet and networking sites such as Facebook in the past seven months as a part of its crackdown on protesters.

Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam also repeated that they will no longer “show any mercy” in dealing with protesters.

Mr. Ahmadi Moghaddam’s statements come after harsh mistreatment of detainees was even confirmed by a parliamentary probe that reported post-election detainees were tortured and even beaten to death at Kahrizak Detention Centre.

Commander Ahmadi Moghaddam claimed that those who use the internet to rally and orchestrate the protests will be considered more at fault than those who actually attend the street demonstrations and will be dealt with accordingly.