A prominent Iranian opposition satellite television channel that has played a key role in broadcasting images of the recent
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) December 12, 2019
Kaveh from the Iranian city of Ramsar called in to say: “My dear countrymen. I am a worker who has felt injustice with my skin and bones. I appeal to each of my compatriots: Help Simaye Azadi. I am suffering from cancer. I ask everyone who’s listening to each help $10 to INTV.”
One letter to the program that was read out said: “I am a mother from Shiraz which has been drenched in blood. Simaye Azadi is the voice of Iran’s people who seek freedom. I have supported it over the years and will continue to do so. Your program is the voice of the mothers of the martyrs. We will keep it alive. This is the voice that, at the height of suppression and the mullahs’ crimes, has been our anchor and companion.
The telethon is scheduled to continue all throughout the weekend.
During the past eighteen years, despite many obstacles, such as jamming by the mullahs’ regime, this channel has operated in complete financial independence, without any publicity. A real feat.
Widely watched by the diaspora around the world, Simaye-Azadi is extremely popular in Iran too. Its television news and its humorous flagship show Pakeshadi have a huge following. The satires of the mullahs run on all smartphones.
In addition to its financial independence provided by the help of viewers, the channel is also fed with information and ideas by its community that participates either live in many programs, or by sending on social networks.
The most popular program is the Telethon, where thousands of people donate by phone or internet. Many are raising money from family and friends around them and announcing the collective amounts live. It is possible to follow the telethon live on the account “www.iranntv.com“.
Calls are flowing from all over the world and especially from Iran. If tracked by regime agents in Iran, the donor risks arrest. In June 2014, Qolamreza Khosravi, an oil worker who supported the MEK, was executed for financially assisting this satellite channel.
More than once the Iranian regime has complained of the danger of satellite channels because of their popularity, especially Simaye Azadi, which is a very popular channel. During these Telethons, the helpers come from all the layers of the population, of all the ages, among them especially the repressed women who are very active in collecting donations.
Modest donations, substantial donations, collective donations, everyone seeks to preserve this light in the night of censorship of the mullahs. This is why the Iranian regime regularly launches satellite dishes eradication campaigns in which the regime agents desperately crush the dishes under the tank tracks or the road rollers.