Iran warns opposition on cell phone, e-mail use

Tehran: Iran's police chief on Friday warned opposition supporters not to use cell phones and e-mail messages to organise protest rallies against the government, saying those who do so will be prosecuted and punished.

Gen. Esmail Ahmadi Mogaddam said spreading the word of the opposition through Internet or cell phone SMS is a crime that deserves severe punishment and that the authorities would continue monitoring those systems.

The remarks are the latest reflecting the government's frustration at various imaginative ways the opposition has sought to rally supporters following the disputed June presidential election.

A harsh government crackdown has left the opposition with little means to make its voice heard. Almost all pro-reform newspapers have been closed since the June 12 vote in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner. Those still in circulation have been openly threatened against publishing opposition statements. Iranian state media, controlled by hard-liners, regularly ignore the opposition.

Pro-reform web sites are also blocked, making it difficult for statements, such as those of opposition leader Mir Hussain Mousavi, to be seen by the wider public.

However, Iran's tech-savvy and mostly young opposition activists have turned to cell phone SMS and e-mails as a potent weapon in organising anti-government rallies. In response, cell phone service is regularly blocked during opposition demonstrations - but often, not before the message gets out.

"These people must know when they send the SMS messages or e-mails out, these systems are completely under (our) control," Mogaddam was quoted as saying by the semiofficial ISNA news agency. "These individuals should not assume ... they can hide their identities. That is a wishful thinking."
Mogaddam added that those who continue to use cell phones and e-mails in service of the opposition would be punished. "Those involved in organising or issuing appeals have committed a worse crime than those who take to the streets," he said.

The opposition says more than 80 protesters have been killed in the post-election crackdown, although the government puts the number of confirmed dead at less than 40. At least eight people died in clashes between security forces and opposition protesters in late December, the worst bloodshed since the height of the unrest last summer.

Meanwhile, a dissident cleric was arrested, reports said on Friday.
Mohammad Taghi Khalaji, who was close to late dissident Grand Ayatollah Hussaiin Ali Montazeri, was arrested at his home in Qom on Tuesday, reformist website Norooznews said.

"The [reason for] his arrest is not known yet but he had on several occasions backed protests against election results".

Iranian authorities have launched a new wave of arrests following bloody protests during Shiite mourning rituals of Ashura on December 27, when eight people were killed.