Iran Arrests Dozens For ‘Offensive’ Comments On Recent Bombings

Iran’s judiciary is prosecuting tens of citizens for “posting false and offensive statements…against the regime” on social media about week’s bombings in Kerman.

Tehran Prosecutor Ali Salehi said Monday that these individuals, including seven well-known public figures have been indicted. “Those who attempt to endanger the society’s psychological security by spreading false and offensive content [on social media] will be dealt with decisively, quickly and according to the law,” he said.

HRANA, the website of the US-based Human Rights Activists, reported Tuesday that at least 76 social media users have been arrested across Iran since the bombing in Kerman, and 108 others have been summoned by security and judicial organizations. HRANA said nearly 500 social media accounts have been suspended and two businesses were shut down in this relation.

Nearly one hundred were killed and dozens of others were injured on January 3 in the twin bombings on the road leading to Golzar-e Shohada (Martyrs Garden) cemetery of Kerman where Soleimani is buried.

The ISIS of Afghanistan (The Islamic State – Khorasan Province or ISIS--K) has taken responsibility for what it claimed were suicide bombings, but some Iranian social media users continue to accuse Iran's own security and intelligence agencies of being behind the attacks to buy sympathy for the regime. The media and some political figures criticized the regime for concentrating their efforts on suppression of dissent instead of preventing terror.

One of the seven "well-known figures" indicted for their comments on the Kerman bombing is the prominent political commentator Sadegh Zibakalam. He has been indicted by the Tehran Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor for his remarks. During an interview with the Voice of America's Persian television, Zibakalam stated that Israel, which authorities continue to accuse of involvement in the bombing, should not be held responsible because it targets specific individuals in its operations and "does not attack innocent people." 

Like other branches of the Islamic State in the Middle East, the Daesh of Khorasan has conducted many terrorist attacks including suicide bombings in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Kerman bombing is the first attack in Iran that the Daesh of Khorasan has taken responsibility for.

Some social media users also said they were happy that that regime supporters who were participating in Soleimani’s death anniversary ceremony were killed in the attack.

Relatively independent media in Tehran have also demanded the resignation of the interior minister Ahmad Vahidi. “What other disaster should happen now for a government official to resign from his post?” an editorial in Jahan-e Sanat newspaper Tuesday asked. “What else should happen for a government official to apologize to the nation?”

In response to government criticism over its failure to provide security at Soleimani's death anniversary ceremony, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei defended the performance of security agencies on Tuesday. He stated that the rate of neutralizing threats is tens of times higher than those threats that materialize.

“We are not adamant in accusing this or that [country or group] but insist on identifying the real culprits who are behind the scenes and on crushing them,” he told a group of visitors from Qom in a speech in which he alleged that Iran's enemies have been trying to harm the Islamic Republic by instilling disillusionment in people and discouraging them from supporting the regime.

“Making fun of the Shiite Arbaeen procession”, “insinuating doubt” about Iranians’ respect for Soleimani, questioning the “magnificence of people’s participation” in religious celebrations such as the birthday of the twelfth Imam, Mahdi, “are examples of the enemy's strategic policy” of enticing the Iranian people to cease support for the Islamic Republic, he said.