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In 2019, Reporters Without Borders ranked Iran 170 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index. This index lists countries from 1 to 180 based on the level of freedom journalists have to do their job. Reporters Without Borders described Iran as “one of the world’s most repressive countries for journalists for the past 40 years”. In the Freedom House Index, Iran also scores low on political rights and civil liberties and is classified as “not free”. These bad rankings can partly be explained by the existence of censorship in Iran.

Censorship can broadly be described as “the knot that binds knowledge and power”. This definition emphasizes the element of power in connection to knowledge but the definition doesn’t say anything about who censors what information and why. A more precise definition of censorship is: “censorship concerns the obstruction and the arbitrary suppression of discourse with the objective of manipulating public knowledge and, accordingly, shaping public opinion in favor of state power”. Here, censorship is characterized as concerning mostly public information and serving the interests of the state. Censorship can be categorized into reactive measures where the flow of information is restricted and proactive measures which stimulate the creation of new media content in order to overshadow information unwanted by the government. Censorship is therefore not only about blocking content but is affecting a complete society and is creating a culture of censorship.

In practice
After the Islamic revolution in 1979, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, also known as the Ershad, came into existence to control all cultural activities in the country. From that moment on, all musicians, writers, artists and media makers needed permits that allowed them to publicly display their works. The Ershad is in charge of providing these permits and judges whether these works are in line with Islamic culture. Different departments within the Ershad are responsible for interpreting what fits and what does not fit Islamic culture and should therefore be censored. At the head of this bureaucratic organization are the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance and the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. Journalists also need a license before they can legally start working. Licenses for journalists are provided by the Press Supervisory Board and will be withdrawn when journalists criticize state.

Censorship here is not just an act by an individual, it’s a process which involves interaction and negotiation. The complexity and ambiguity of the system stimulate self-censorship and result into a culture of censorship. However, not everything is negotiable. Criticism on the Supreme Leader is for example strictly forbidden and journalists or artists who do not obey to the Iranian state, can face serious punishments.

Laws and regulations
The Iranian constitution contains many laws which restrict the flow of information. However, these laws are often ambiguous and vaguely worded. This thin legal basis leaves a lot of room for interpretation about what is legal and what is not. Censorship regulation is therefore a highly subjective practice. It depends on the interpretation of the individual bureaucrat in charge whether censorship will be applied or not. These laws can therefore easily be used by government officials who want to suppress dissenting voices. What the Iranian constitution doesn’t do is protecting journalists and artists by giving them rights. A few examples of these ambiguous laws will be given below.

The Iranian constitution states very general rules concerning freedom of expression. For Iranian citizens it’s not always clear what is allowed by the government and what is not. Article 24 states: “Publications and the press have freedom of expression except when it is detrimental to the fundamental principles of Islam or the rights of the public. The details of this exception will be specified by law” . So far, there exists no law which specifies the details of this exception.

Article 3 of The Press Law states: “The press have the right to publish the opinions, constructive criticisms, suggestions and explanations of individuals and government officials for public information while duly observing the Islamic teachings and the best interest of the community" . The first part of this law describes a lot of freedoms for the press but in the second part this freedom is restricted by very broad exceptions. Anything can be labeled as against “the interest of the community” and therefore the press should always be careful.

Article 500 of the penal code states: “Anyone who engages in any type of propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran or in support of opposition groups and associations, shall be sentenced to three months to one year of imprisonment" . But nowhere can be found what is seen as propaganda and what is not. Again, this vagueness gives judges a lot of room for interpreting what is against the law and should therefore be punished.

History
Iran has a long history with censorship. Especially reactive measures where information in newspapers, on television or on the internet is withhold from the public have been present for ages. These forms of censorship were used for suppression of opposition and for influencing of public opinion. Censorship in Iran comes in waves which exist parallel to political crises. In situations of crisis, the state tries to get power back by controlling information streams and thereby denying opposition groups influence on the public debate. During the crisis that followed the nationalization of the oil industry in the 1950s, censorship was intensified to protect the Shah’s reputation. During the 1770s, in the years preceding the revolution, censorship was less present in the Iranian society. This created big developments in Iranian literature production. However, in the years after the revolution censorship intensified again. The new Islamic leaders tried to consolidate their power by enforcing new regulations. And lastly, in the crisis after the 2009 elections, communication channels were shutdown to prevent major uprisings.