E-tensions rise in Iran

By GORDON FELLER TEHRAN

Some Tehran residents are trying to pass them off as giant air conditioners, and others have opted to hide them behind rows and rows of hung laundry. But no matter how well they are disguised, most satellite dishes are about to disappear from thousands of rooftops in the Iranian capital - that is, if the hardliners in the Iranian government have their way.
Iran has seen a massive crackdown on satellite dishes since October, with the second stage of the operation started in December. Authorities plan to confiscate at least 150,000 satellite dishes during the campaign, which includes penalizing owners with heavy fines and even jail terms. The move has upset not only ordinary citizens, who have been enjoying the endless parade of shows offered by satellite television, but also political reformers who had hoped for a freer flow of information under President Mohammed Khatami.
"It does not make sense in this day and age to block information, because citizens, using various means and methods, will ultimately gain access to the information they seek," says legislator Mohammed Reza Saidee. "Trying to negate information is like shooting an arrow in the dark."
Decadence. A ban on satellite dishes has been in place in Iran since 1995, as part of efforts to curb the inroads of "decadent" Western culture. But the ban has largely been ignored since the election of Khatami, who has spent the past four years trying to expand media freedom and introduce cultural and political reforms. Some observers say that in Tehran alone about 500,000 households had satellite dishes before the ban, adding that the figure could only have grown significantly after Khatami's election, whose government has proposed that the rules be relaxed.
A year ago, reformist candidates in the parliamentary elections also promised to repeal the ban once they became legislators. Such promises have yet to be fulfiled, although not because of a lack of effort on the part of the reformists. Previously, tabling such a motion was hindered mainly because of the opposition of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Earlier last year, the legislators attempted to amend the country's Press Law, but Khamenei told the Iranian parliament to "forget about it" for the time being. In a letter to the Majlis speaker, Khamenei said simply that the time was "not appropriate" for any debate on the restrictive Press Law enacted by a conservative-dominated parliament in 1999. Khamenei has since come out strongly for a continued ban on satellite dishes.
"We should not give in to Western cultural invasion just because of satellite technology advances and drop the legal barriers for its expansion in the country," Khamenei told a group of Iranian publishers in a recent meeting. "The enemies of the revolution try to confront us through cultural means and we have to resist."
The ban has always been unpopular among the public, and until recently the authorities apparently decided just to turn a blind eye to the mushrooming of satellite dishes. In October, however, the conservative faction in the leadership finally saw a way to insist on enforcing the ban, following the broadcast of a number of qualifying matches for the 2002 World Cup led to a spate of riots. Soccer matches often provide Iran's large youth population with an opportunity to ignore strict social rules, and the World Cup matches triggered the usual rowdiness. Some football fans who took to the streets in Tehran, however, smashed the windows of banks and government buildings and wrecked vehicles. Hundreds of young men were arrested after clashes broke out between youth and the police.
Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani blamed the riots on opposition calls for demonstrations against the Islamic system that were broadcast via satellite television. "Bankrupt elements abroad are trying to use the satellite network to launch a political challenge. This shows that we have failed to seriously confront cultural threats."
Taking action. The chief of the country's Revolutionary Court also vowed recently that his agency, "according to the law and its responsibilities, would have no mercy on those who wanted to create insecurity with their hooliganism and improper behavior." He insisted that "during the incidents it was clear that two TV networks that are run by the anti-revolutionary elements in America incited young people to take action. They have misused young people's emotions."
As if the crackdown on satellite dishes were not enough, a conservative body announced a month later that private companies could no longer be allowed to provide Internet services in Iran. Said the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council [SCRC] in its ruling: "Providing Internet service is a monopoly of the state [and] any organization providing this shall dismantle their installations or transfer them to the state sector within six months."
Currently, Iranians have unrestricted Internet access. If enforced, the ban could affect an estimated 1,000 Internet service providers throughout the country. The Majlis is expected to intervene in the dispute, but its decisions can always be overruled by the supreme leader, whose position regarding this new ruling is unknown. Still, some lawmakers say that the SCRC had no constitutional powers to issue a ruling on the Internet or other matters. "According to the constitution, the only authority to enact laws in Iran is the parliament," says Mohammad Reza Tabesh. "The council has no legal right to ban or not to ban anything, including Internet access."
In December, parliament opened discussions on amending the law that prohibits the use of satellite television. Meanwhile, some newspapers have been fuming over what they see as attacks on media freedom. The English-language daily Iran News, for instance, has repeatedly called on parliament to reverse the ban on satellite dishes "so the country can join the 21st century." The News wrote in one recent editorial that "the whole argument boils down to the fact that today satellite reception is not a luxury reserved for a handful of privileged individuals, but a genuine necessity. Those who are adamantly opposed to any softening of the position regarding satellites must wake up to the shocking reality that satellites and the Internet are, to their horror, facts of life in today's world."
According to Kazem Mohamed Nejad, a professor of communication sciences in Tehran, "Mass media, such as cinema, the press, satellite dishes and the Internet, are in principle legal, unless otherwise stated by the constitution or international treaties. In Iran's constitution, all principles regarding the freedom of speech have been anticipated," Nejad insists. "Any limitation or restriction on those freedoms contradicts these basic principles."