NCRI – Eleven people are facing jail in Iran for posting ‘jokes’ about the regime’s founder Ruhollah Khomenei on social networking sites.
The Iranian regime’s Revolutionary Guards Corp Commander Esmaeel Mohebipour said the individuals had published comments insulting Khomeini on WhatsApp, Viber, Tango and Telegram.
Mohebipour said the detainees have confessed to their ‘wrong doings’, adding: “They have become the stooges of the intelligence services.”
“The case of these individuals will be delivered to the judicial official for judicial process.”
The news of arrests come a day after Iran’s Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei issued a one-month ultimatum for the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to ban the applications WhatsApp, Viber and Tango.
Mohseni Ejei said the offensive comments under the guise of jokes about Khomeini had been widely circulated on the Viber, Tango and WhatsApp networks in recent weeks.
Like satellite television and music videos in earlier decades, the Iranian regime considers the social networks a threat.
Scores of online activists, users and bloggers have been jailed and tortured and killed for comments about Iran’s ruling dictators, which have always been a common way to express their dissent.
Some of the jokes about Khomeini reflect common criticisms of him and the regime’s policies and hollow promises, including his pledge to provide free water and electricity.
One joke said ‘Khomeini comes home and sees bills for water, electricity, and gas on the ground. He asks, ‘Weren’t these free?’
The joke concludes: “Forgetfulness was one of Imam’s weaknesses.”
