December 27-2013
There is no sign that the regime’s efforts to reign in dissidents has slowed down at all since the election of Hassan Rohani. In recent days, a popular underground rapper and several employees of a technology website have been arrested.
Shortly after Rohani took office, the Judiciary released 20 political prisoners and indicated more would be freed. But, so far, there is no sign of any releases beyond those 20.
The website Narenji, which specializes in gadget news, reported last week that seven of its employees, both journalists and technical staff, had been arrested by the Pasdaran in Kerman.
Narenji said the reason for their arrests was unknown. “We are suspending the activities of Narenji website until we are informed about our employees’ whereabouts,” a short item on the site reported.
The next day, the deputy prosecutor in Kerman said 16 “cyber activists” has been arrested, going well beyond the Narenji staff. He didn’t say who the nine others were.
The same day, the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) said an underground musician with the stage name of Amir Tataloo had been arrested by the morality police. Tataloo has more than 550,000 fans on Facebook.
Masud Zahedian, the head of the morality police told ISNA Tataloo had been arrested for co-operating with illegal satellite television stations based abroad.
Zahedian said, “The Culture Ministry and national television have paved ways for our artists to present their work, and people who continue to work underground should stop that and conduct their work within the legal framework.”
Tataloo, whose real name is Amir-Hossain Maghsoodloo, started to post his performances online a decade ago, often using YouTube.
Tataloo’s work has been broadcast over many foreign-based television stations, which is anathema to the regime, but it isn’t clear whether he sent his material to them or if they simply lifted what is available to all on the Internet
