Hactivists Interrupt Live Streaming Of Iran State TV, Call For Protests

A website for the online streaming of Iran’s state television was hacked less than a week after another similar incident disrupted a few TV and radio channels.

Hacktivist group Edalat-e Ali (Ali's Justice) hacked the television website and broadcasted a video with a strong opposition message Tuesday afternoon.

The video started with footage of people in Tehran’s Azadi stadium shouting “death to dictator” referring to Supreme Leader Ali Kamenei, then it cut into a close up of a masked man similar to the protagonist of the movie V for Vendetta, who said “Khamenei is scared, the regime’s foundation is rattling”.

The voice in the one-minute video continued that the Islamic Republic cannot silence them as they plan to turn the ten-day celebration of the 1979 revolution into mourning for Islamic Republic.

The 10-day Dawn – also known as Fajr -- is an expression used by the authorities to refer to the ten-day period between Ruhollah Khomeini's return to Iran on February 1 and to the day revolutionaries gained victory against Bakhtiar's government, the last remnant of the Pahlavi rule.

The video labeled the revolution anniversary, which is celebrated by extravagant state-sponsored events across the country, as a 10-day period for nationwide protests.

The group also announced that they are against compulsory hijab in the country, while in the background footage from a campaign by Masih Alinejad against hijab was shown.

The voiceover added that the group will expose the crimes of the regime like it did before, referring to another hack by the group when they released videos from security cameras inside the Evin prison in August 2021.

Edalat-e Ali threatened the regime with more actions and ended its video with an audio clip of people shouting “Don’t be afraid, we’re all together” that is a slogan Iranian protesters chant when security forces attack to arrest them.

The hacking group has claimed responsibility for hacking several Iranian government entities in the past three years.

In their debut action in May 2018, the group hacked into systems at Mashhad international airport and posted anti-government messages and images on arrival and departure information screens.

The group claimed in July 2018 to have hacked the email accounts of Tehran municipality officials, and the email accounts of officials of state broadcaster (IRIB) in January 2019.

Earlier on Thursday, several television and radio channels − including Channel One, News Channel, and the Arabic-language Al-Alam, as well as Javan and Qur’an radio channels -- were hacked and briefly aired photos of leaders of Albania-based opposition Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) with audio footage from one of their speeches in the background.

Then the video showed a photo of Iran’s Supreme leader Ali Khamenei with a red cross on it, as an off-camera voice said, “Death to Khamenei.”

Following the attack, a MEK spokesman denied any knowledge of the apparent hacking, prompting speculations that the attack might have been an inside job by the employees of the state broadcaster.

Shahin Qobadi told Iran International TV that the group had become aware of the incident only when it happened but that the hacking might have been the work of supporters in Iran.