January 23, 2012

Rally Against Censorship and Satellite Jamming at World Radiocommunication Conference

Today, Iranian protestors gathered in Geneva, demanding the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a UN agency, to take action on the Iranian government’s illegal internet and communications censorship. Coinciding with the start of the regulatory meeting of the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) in Geneva, and organized by ITU. Iranians gathered to protest against their government’s illegal telecommunications practices.

The protesters held placards demanding an end to the Iranian government’s censorship and satellite jamming. The gathering drew the attention of attending diplomats to the widespread repression of freedom of speech and access to information.

In this rally, that was afforded protection by the Geneva police, participants demanded ITU members to act to the fullest extent of their legal capacity to stop the jamming of Persian-language satellites and eliminate censorship conducted by the Iranian government under the banner of ‘national internet’.

This conference occurs once every four years with representatives from every UN member country. The representative for this event from the Iranian government is Mohammad Karam Pour, Minister of Information and Communications Technology and President of the Regulatory Authority. This conference will last until 17 February and will include the highest level of UN decision-making regarding satellite and wireless communications.

Photos below show Iranians protesting the censorship and limitations on the free use of the internet and the interference in satellite broadcasts that disrupt media and the spread of information. (Photos from Geneva- ICHRI exclusive)