Poison Pen Letters: Journalists in Iran Threatened Via Email

For those of you who read Arseh Sevom’s recent post about Walid Al-Saqaf (click here) and his circumvention tool, Alaksir, you know the Iranian government is cracking down on the internet using deep packet inspection. This means they are examining every piece of information going through the cyber pipes. Now Global Voices reports that a number of journalists in Iran have received threatening emails:

Your email is on the list. If you continue your illegal activity, you will be punished in accordance with articles 498,499,510 of the Islamic Punishment Law.

Global Voices writes:

According to article 498, anybody who organises a group with more than two people who aims to disturb a country’s security will be jailed from two to ten years. Article 499 says any member of this group can face three months to five years in jail. Article 510 says people who hide spies who want to hurt country with the help of an enemy, can face from six months to three years of jail.

The email is intended to provoke fear, but has no signature. One recipient demonstrated to Global Voices that the email was sent from an anonymous Live.com email account ([email protected]) a Microsoft email service.

Threats like this are clearly meant to intimidate people and stifle free speech. Arseh Sevom condemns this in every form.