‘Women, Life, Freedom’
Agence France-Presse
September 12, 2023
A poster displayed at a protest after the death of Mahsa Amini at the National Mall, Washington DC, October 22, 2022.© Jose Luis Magana, AP
The crackdown was increasing, the screws of repression getting tighter, in the weeks leading up to the first death anniversary of Mahsa Amini, also known as Jina Amini.
The 22-year-old’s death in police custody on September 16, 2022, sparked protests across Iran for months until the authorities responded with brutal tactics, forcing protesters indoors or into exile. But with the anniversary of Amini’s death approaching, the regime was taking no chances.
Weeks ahead of the one-year milestone, the families of protesters killed by security forces were barred from holding commemorative gatherings at their graves, in what Amnesty International called the “cruellest restrictions”. Several women’s rights activists were also detained and accused of planning events to mark the death anniversary, according to Human Rights Watch.
A year ago, Amini was arrested by Iran’s Gasht-e-Ershad – or guidance patrols, better known as the “morality police” – for “improperly” wearing the mandatory hijab.
As enraged female protesters took to the streets, many defying the hijab rules – some burning their headscarves and cutting locks of hair – there were reports suggesting the Gasht-e-Ershad had been suspended.
But since mid-July, the morality police squads have been back on Iran’s streets, aided by other security forces. In early August, President Ebrahim Raisi took to the airwaves to tell the Iranian people they should not “worry” because, he promised, “the removal of the hijab will definitely come to an end”.
A new “Hijab and Chastity” bill is now working its way into law, with a package of repressive measures, including exorbitant fines for hijab offenders and increased police surveillance.
Iranians have a lot to worry about, including the rising cost of living, hyperinflation, corruption, economic collapse, and isolation under international sanctions while the regime plays hardball in nuclear negotiations.
The prospect of women revealing their hair in public does not top the list of concerns for most Iranians.
But for their unpopular president, it’s a major worry. The veil in Iran symboliezs much more than just a hair-covering garment. The death in custody of one young woman, hailing from the marginalized Kurdish-Sunni periphery of the official Shiite state, exposed the weakness of the Islamic Republic four decades after the 1979 revolution.
A year after Amini’s demise, that chapter in Iran’s post-revolutionary history is still being written and it could have dramatic consequences for the country – as well as the international community.
‘A very fragile moment for Iran’
Since the protests erupted last year, Iranian authorities have used a combination of old and new measures to suppress public anti-regime displays.
Security forces killed at least 537 protesters, the majority in the first months of the protests, according to an April 4 report by Oslo-based NGO, Iran Human Rights. At least seven men have been executed in connection to the protests following “hasty proceedings”, noted a UN-appointed Independent International Fact-Finding Mission.
The appointment of the fact-finding mission on November 24 was hailed as a “landmark” by rights groups and came after intense negotiations at the Geneva-based Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
In its first oral report presented in July, the fact-finding mission noted that Iranian authorities had not yet responded to repeated requests for a visit. “Even today, ten months after the events, no official data is publicly available regarding those arrested, detained, charged or convicted in connection with the protests,” the team noted.
In other words, it was business as usual for the Iranian regime after yet another crackdown on yet another round of protests that have been erupting with increased frequency over the past decade.
But this time, some unfamiliar suppression tactics were also applied, and they were disquieting.
As the number of defiantly unveiled women in public soared, the Islamic regime targeted prominent female influencers, including actresses, with dubious psychiatric diagnoses. As judges sentenced women to treatment for “anti-family personality disorder”, Iranian mental health organizations warned that the authorities were “exploiting psychiatry”.
A year after Amini’s death in custody, the figures may be disputed, but the facts are clear. “The government has very effectively crushed the protests that erupted last year. But anger at the regime is even worse,” said Barbara Slavin, distinguished fellow at the Washington DC-based Stimson Center. “The regime has been very effective in terms of repression, but it’s been a total failure at improving the lives of ordinary Iranians.”
The explosive mix of public rage and regime suppression makes it hard to say who really won the day, much less the year. “It’s a mixed picture: on the one hand, society is miserable, angry, restive. On the other hand, Iranians have shown that the regime no longer calls the shots,” said Slavin. “It’s a very fragile moment for Iran.”
‘Women, Life, Freedom’
The fragility was exposed last year by women, the officially fragile 51 percent of Iran’s 87 million population. Adopting the rallying cry, “Zan, Zendegi, Azadi” – Women, Life, Freedom – Iran’s women led the latest charge against the regime with a mix of courage, creativity and doggedness that electrified the world.
Since the 1979 revolution, women have been used as a political symbol by the Islamic Republic, with the veil promoted as the most manifest proclamation of its values. More than 40 years later, that political symbolism provided the seed for its own unraveling.
“Heavily discriminating against women in all aspects of life, the Islamic Republic’s policies on compulsory veil emerges throughout the years as the symbol of its control over women’s bodies and life. Regardless, Iranian women have remained courageously outspoken for their rights, while having paid and continuing to pay a high price for their dissent,” said Azadeh Pourzand, senior fellow at the Center for Middle East and Global Order.
While the government is pushing for the adoption of the “Hijab and Chastity” law, Slavin doubts it will end the regime’s worries. “Overall, the government has lost the battle for the obligatory hijab – they can’t arrest all the women going around without hijab,” she explained. “They’ve lost the battle, they simply refuse to admit it.”
Despite the tightened restrictions, many Iranian women are putting up a fight, with some displaying exceptional bravery. Weeks before Amini’s death anniversary, firebrand Iranian labour activist Sepideh Qoliyan got a warning by a criminal court judge that she could face additional charges if she continued to appear in court without a veil.It came a month after an earlier court hearing was cancelled because Qoliyan refused to wear the mandatory hijab. The 28-year-old activist remains in prison while she fights two separate charges, including insulting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Meanwhile Nazila Maroufian, the Iranian-Kurdish journalist who interviewed Amini’s father last year, walked out of Tehran’s notorious Evin prison on August 13 and posted a photograph on social media of herself without a headscarf and the slogan, "Don't accept slavery, you deserve the best."
She was promptly detained again, released on bail and then re-arrested. On September 4, an Iranian judge sentenced Maroufian to a year in prison, ensuring the now-prominent journalist would be locked behind bars on Amini’s first death anniversary.
The fragility was exposed last year by women, the officially fragile 51 percent of Iran’s 87 million population. Adopting the rallying cry, “Zan, Zendegi, Azadi” – Women, Life, Freedom – Iran’s women led the latest charge against the regime with a mix of courage, creativity and doggedness that electrified the world.
Since the 1979 revolution, women have been used as a political symbol by the Islamic Republic, with the veil promoted as the most manifest proclamation of its values. More than 40 years later, that political symbolism provided the seed for its own unraveling.
“Heavily discriminating against women in all aspects of life, the Islamic Republic’s policies on compulsory veil emerges throughout the years as the symbol of its control over women’s bodies and life. Regardless, Iranian women have remained courageously outspoken for their rights, while having paid and continuing to pay a high price for their dissent,” said Azadeh Pourzand, senior fellow at the Center for Middle East and Global Order.
While the government is pushing for the adoption of the “Hijab and Chastity” law, Slavin doubts it will end the regime’s worries. “Overall, the government has lost the battle for the obligatory hijab – they can’t arrest all the women going around without hijab,” she explained. “They’ve lost the battle, they simply refuse to admit it.”
Despite the tightened restrictions, many Iranian women are putting up a fight, with some displaying exceptional bravery. Weeks before Amini’s death anniversary, firebrand Iranian labour activist Sepideh Qoliyan got a warning by a criminal court judge that she could face additional charges if she continued to appear in court without a veil.It came a month after an earlier court hearing was cancelled because Qoliyan refused to wear the mandatory hijab. The 28-year-old activist remains in prison while she fights two separate charges, including insulting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Meanwhile Nazila Maroufian, the Iranian-Kurdish journalist who interviewed Amini’s father last year, walked out of Tehran’s notorious Evin prison on August 13 and posted a photograph on social media of herself without a headscarf and the slogan, "Don't accept slavery, you deserve the best."
She was promptly detained again, released on bail and then re-arrested. On September 4, an Iranian judge sentenced Maroufian to a year in prison, ensuring the now-prominent journalist would be locked behind bars on Amini’s first death anniversary.
New generation rejects ‘patience’
Iranian women and girls taking to the streets were immediately joined by male protesters who grasped the symbolism of the veil in their demand for total change. The unofficial anthem of the Women, Life, Freedom movement was written by a young man and recorded in his bedroom in the Iranian coastal city of Babolsar.
Shervin Hajipour wove tweets of protest-supporters into the lyrics of his song, Baraye, or “For” in English. He was arrested and released on bail when he won a special Grammy award in February for his powerful, haunting single.
Iranian women and girls taking to the streets were immediately joined by male protesters who grasped the symbolism of the veil in their demand for total change. The unofficial anthem of the Women, Life, Freedom movement was written by a young man and recorded in his bedroom in the Iranian coastal city of Babolsar.
Shervin Hajipour wove tweets of protest-supporters into the lyrics of his song, Baraye, or “For” in English. He was arrested and released on bail when he won a special Grammy award in February for his powerful, haunting single.
The song title comes from #Baraye, a hashtag Iranians used to explain why they were protesting. One of the tweets in the song simply states, “For yearning for an ordinary life” – a central demand of the primarily young protesters.
The Gen Z component of the protests was particularly noteworthy, distinguishing it from previous Iranian protest movements, explained Iran-born and UK-based Pourzand.
At 38, Pourzand belongs to the “Green movement” generation of protesters who took to the streets to challenge the results of the 2009 presidential elections, which denied a victory to the reformist candidate.
“My generation thought patience is a value, that incremental change is a value worth holding on to,” she explained. “We thought we had to pick between the bad and worse. ‘Better to work for the bad – what if, what comes next is the worse,’ describes the reform movement.”
Iran’s Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2010 – or 1375-1389 in the Iranian calendar and dubbed DaheHashtadi (“the Eighties”) in Persian – displayed the impertinence and impatience of youth. This included a total rejection of the post-1979 edifice, complete with ripping and burning posters of Supreme Leader Khamenei.
The leaderless, social media-driven nature of the movement raised immediate doubts over whether the young protesters had the mobilization capacity to topple the regime.
But in their failure to bring immediate change, Generation Dahe Hashtadi did not fare any worse than their parents, analysts concede a year later. What’s more, in a country with a long protest culture, they fundamentally altered the discourse by calling for a dismantling of the republic itself.
“They got together, they figured a message quickly and effectively, and the whole world heard it,” said Pourzand. “'Women, Life, Freedom' divided Iran’s history into a ‘before’ and ‘after’. I don’t think the regime can take it back to before this movement.”
Referring to the Iranian saying, “the fire under the ashes”, Slavin says the smoldering anger cannot be extinguished by a deeply discredited regime using the old repression techniques. “Iranians understand this is a long struggle, they are very determined,” she explained.
A year after Amini’s death, the state of the republic appears to be as frail as that of the 84-year-old supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. “People have been calling 'Death to the dictator' for the past four to five years. They hate him,” said Slavin.
Khamenei’s most likely successor list includes President Raisi and the octogenarian supreme leader’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei. Both men lack popular support, according to analysts. “Khamenei has been trying to arrange for his son to succeed him. The hypocrisy of the regime is beyond all calculations,” said Slavin. “Someday it will fall and people will celebrate – just when and how it happens, people can’t predict.”
The Iranian women paying price for reporting on Mahsa Amini
Issued on: 13/09/2023 -
Paris (AFP) – Iranian authorities have since the death of Mahsa Amini systematically persecuted the journalists, often young women, who helped expose the case and magnify its resonance in and outside Iran, campaign groups say.
Amini, 22, an Iranian of Kurdish origin, died on September 16, 2022 following her arrest in Tehran for allegedly flouting the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women.
Her death sparked months of protests in one of the biggest challenges for the Iranian authorities since the 1979 revolution.
Security forces responded with a crackdown that saw thousands arrested, including almost 80 journalists, according to a watchdog. Particularly targeted were those who reported on the circumstances of Amini's death.
Her family says she was killed by a blow while in custody, a version rejected by the Iranian authorities.
Almost a week after Amini died, Iranian authorities on September 22 arrested Niloufar Hamedi, 29, a journalist with the reformist Shargh daily who went to the hospital where Amini had been taken.
She posted on social media a photo of Amini's family grieving when her death was confirmed.
Hamedi's fellow reporter, Elahe Mohammadi, 36, of the Ham Mihan daily, rushed to Amini's hometown of Saqez in Kurdish-populated western Iran to report on her funeral which turned into one of the first protests.
Mohammadi was in turn arrested on September 29.
Both women have been held in detention ever since, for almost a year. They are now on trial on charges of violating national security, which they vehemently deny.
'Fearless reporting'
"Niloufar Hamedi's courage and commitment must be rewarded, not punished," said Jonathan Dagher, head of the Middle East desk at Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
"Her imprisonment for almost a year illustrates the Islamic Republic's terrible repression of journalists, and their rejection of press freedom and reliable information."
In another blow for the Mohammadi family, her twin sister Elnaz, who also works for Ham Mihan and reported on the protests, was earlier this month given a three year partly suspended prison sentence for "conspiracy and collusion".
'Don't accept slavery'
Weeks after the arrest of Hamedi and Mohammadi, the journalist Nazila Maroufian, now 23, published an interview on the Mostaghel Online news site with Amjad Amini, Mahsa Amini's father. He accused authorities of lying about the circumstances of his daughter's death.
Maroufian has since been arrested a total of four times, according to rights groups.
On her release she repeatedly posted a picture of herself without the Islamic headscarf in defiance of Iran's strict rules for women.
"Don't accept slavery, you deserve the best!" she wrote in one post after walking out of prison, holding flowers in one arm and the other raised skyward in a victory sign.
During her latest stint in jail this month, Maroufian said in an audio message that she was sexually assaulted while being arrested and had begun a hunger strike to protest her situation.
'Added cost'
Some 1,200 business owners have since called on Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi to lift the restrictions, according to local media.
To keep her business afloat, Samimi resorted to using virtual private networks and anti-filter tools to bypass the censorship.
Daily demand on VPN services in Iran rocketed to "3,082 percent higher than before the protests" last year, according to Top10VPN, a British-based digital security advocacy group.
Mohammad Rahim Pouya, a psychologist who offers online therapy sessions, said he lost more than 50 percent of his clients in the early days of the blackout.
The 32-year-old said he could maintain communication lines with clients in Iran but it was more challenging with those abroad.
For him, the use of anti-censorship tools was "an added cost and probably has security flaws".
"But what are the options?"
Finding ways around internet curbs has become commonplace in Iran where authorities have repeatedly blocked access over the years at times of unrest.
In 2009, access to social media networks was blocked during mass protests -- which became known as the Green Movement -- following a contentious presidential election that saw the populist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad take office.
Popular social media networks including Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter, have since been blocked.
A decade later, harsher curbs were imposed after protesters took to the streets over a government decision to raise fuel prices by 200 percent.
Costly curbs
In March, Iran's telecommunications minister Issa Zarepour urged foreign companies to introduce representative offices in Iran, saying "no one wants to limit the internet and we can have international platforms".
Meta, the American giant that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has said it has no intention of setting up offices in the Islamic republic, which remains under crippling US sanctions.
The internet curbs have been costly.
The government spent $773 million in 2022 alone to impose them, making it the second biggest spender on restrictions after Russia, according to Statista, a Germany-based data collection website.
In February, Iran's reformist Shargh daily reported that the country's internet service providers suffered 40 percent losses because of the restrictions.
With the bans on Western apps in place, Iranians have been left with little choice but to rely on state-backed apps.
But the homegrown alternatives for social networks and messaging apps -- like Bale, Ita, Rubika and Soroush -- have failed to garner significant popularity compared with their international alternatives.
Samimi says she has yet to "find any alternatives" to her now-dwindling online business on Instagram.
Likewise, Pouya insists on using international platforms through anti-censorship tools but he fears a total blackout.
"I wouldn't know what to do if they shut down (the internet) completely."
© 2023 AFP
Issued on: 13/09/2023 -
Paris (AFP) – Iranian authorities have since the death of Mahsa Amini systematically persecuted the journalists, often young women, who helped expose the case and magnify its resonance in and outside Iran, campaign groups say.
Iranian journalists Niloufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi have both been held for almost a year
Amini, 22, an Iranian of Kurdish origin, died on September 16, 2022 following her arrest in Tehran for allegedly flouting the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women.
Her death sparked months of protests in one of the biggest challenges for the Iranian authorities since the 1979 revolution.
Security forces responded with a crackdown that saw thousands arrested, including almost 80 journalists, according to a watchdog. Particularly targeted were those who reported on the circumstances of Amini's death.
Her family says she was killed by a blow while in custody, a version rejected by the Iranian authorities.
Almost a week after Amini died, Iranian authorities on September 22 arrested Niloufar Hamedi, 29, a journalist with the reformist Shargh daily who went to the hospital where Amini had been taken.
She posted on social media a photo of Amini's family grieving when her death was confirmed.
Hamedi's fellow reporter, Elahe Mohammadi, 36, of the Ham Mihan daily, rushed to Amini's hometown of Saqez in Kurdish-populated western Iran to report on her funeral which turned into one of the first protests.
Mohammadi was in turn arrested on September 29.
Both women have been held in detention ever since, for almost a year. They are now on trial on charges of violating national security, which they vehemently deny.
'Fearless reporting'
"Niloufar Hamedi's courage and commitment must be rewarded, not punished," said Jonathan Dagher, head of the Middle East desk at Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
"Her imprisonment for almost a year illustrates the Islamic Republic's terrible repression of journalists, and their rejection of press freedom and reliable information."
In another blow for the Mohammadi family, her twin sister Elnaz, who also works for Ham Mihan and reported on the protests, was earlier this month given a three year partly suspended prison sentence for "conspiracy and collusion".
Mohammadi works for the Ham Mihan daily © ATTA KENARE / AFP
She and co-defendant Negin Bagheri will serve one-fortieth of the term, or less than a month, in prison, their lawyer told Ham Mihan. But they must undergo "ethics" training –- overseen by intelligence officials –- and are barred from leaving the country.
"By imprisoning Elahe Mohammadi for the past 11 months and punishing Elnaz Mohammadi, the Iranian government shows that it is determined to silence these two sister journalists and the women whose views they report," said Dagher.
In recognition of their work the Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ) –- founded by the human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and actor George Clooney –- awarded them at this year's Albies awards.
The two journalists won the Justice for Women Award in recognition of "their fearless reporting that brought the death of Mahsa Amini... out of the shadows," the CFJ said.
She and co-defendant Negin Bagheri will serve one-fortieth of the term, or less than a month, in prison, their lawyer told Ham Mihan. But they must undergo "ethics" training –- overseen by intelligence officials –- and are barred from leaving the country.
"By imprisoning Elahe Mohammadi for the past 11 months and punishing Elnaz Mohammadi, the Iranian government shows that it is determined to silence these two sister journalists and the women whose views they report," said Dagher.
In recognition of their work the Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ) –- founded by the human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and actor George Clooney –- awarded them at this year's Albies awards.
The two journalists won the Justice for Women Award in recognition of "their fearless reporting that brought the death of Mahsa Amini... out of the shadows," the CFJ said.
'Don't accept slavery'
Weeks after the arrest of Hamedi and Mohammadi, the journalist Nazila Maroufian, now 23, published an interview on the Mostaghel Online news site with Amjad Amini, Mahsa Amini's father. He accused authorities of lying about the circumstances of his daughter's death.
Maroufian has since been arrested a total of four times, according to rights groups.
On her release she repeatedly posted a picture of herself without the Islamic headscarf in defiance of Iran's strict rules for women.
"Don't accept slavery, you deserve the best!" she wrote in one post after walking out of prison, holding flowers in one arm and the other raised skyward in a victory sign.
During her latest stint in jail this month, Maroufian said in an audio message that she was sexually assaulted while being arrested and had begun a hunger strike to protest her situation.
Nazila Maroufian has repeatedly posted pictures of herself outside prison without a headscarf © Alex MITA / AFP
She was freed at the weekend. This time, Maroufian opted not to post a picture on social media celebrating her release, implying she would be arrested again if she failed to wear a headscarf.
"I am forbidden to post my photo after 'freedom'. I preferred not to post a picture rather than posting a picture of myself... which is nothing like Nazila."
According to the RSF watchdog group, 79 journalists including 31 women were arrested in the crackdown. Twelve are still behind bars, RSF said.
Dagher said this "labyrinth of repression" has been created so journalists either "self-censor or they get locked up".
"But if the arrests are continuing, it is because there are still journalists who defy this formula."
© 2023 AFP
Iranians hit by internet curbs in year since protests
She was freed at the weekend. This time, Maroufian opted not to post a picture on social media celebrating her release, implying she would be arrested again if she failed to wear a headscarf.
"I am forbidden to post my photo after 'freedom'. I preferred not to post a picture rather than posting a picture of myself... which is nothing like Nazila."
According to the RSF watchdog group, 79 journalists including 31 women were arrested in the crackdown. Twelve are still behind bars, RSF said.
Dagher said this "labyrinth of repression" has been created so journalists either "self-censor or they get locked up".
"But if the arrests are continuing, it is because there are still journalists who defy this formula."
© 2023 AFP
Iranians hit by internet curbs in year since protests
Issued on: 13/09/2023
Tehran (AFP) – Iran has imposed curbs on the internet in the year since protests erupted over Mahsa Amini's death, forcing people to find other ways to run their businesses or keep in touch with loved ones.
Tehran (AFP) – Iran has imposed curbs on the internet in the year since protests erupted over Mahsa Amini's death, forcing people to find other ways to run their businesses or keep in touch with loved ones.
In the year since Mahsa Amini's death sparked protests, the Iranian authorities have imposed internet restrictions
© ATTA KENARE / AFP
Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, died on September 16, 2022 after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women.
Her death triggered months of nationwide protests in which hundreds of people were killed, including dozens of security personnel, before authorities moved to quell what they branded "riots", including restrictions on the use of social media.
Alma Samimi, who makes a living by selling leather bags online, said her business had suffered since the blackout came into force.
"The damage has been irreversible," she said, with profits linked to her Instagram account -- which had amassed thousands of followers -- nosediving 80 percent.
"Online interactions have dramatically dropped since last year," she said.
The restrictions, which affected online activity including on Instagram and WhatsApp, come as millions of Iranians struggle to make ends meet, grappling with an economic crisis marked by soaring inflation and the Iranian rial's sharp decline.
Iran's economic woes were significantly compounded by Washington's 2018 decision to reimpose sanctions on Tehran after then-president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from a landmark nuclear deal.
"We cannot plan for the future anymore," Samimi lamented.
Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, died on September 16, 2022 after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women.
Her death triggered months of nationwide protests in which hundreds of people were killed, including dozens of security personnel, before authorities moved to quell what they branded "riots", including restrictions on the use of social media.
Alma Samimi, who makes a living by selling leather bags online, said her business had suffered since the blackout came into force.
"The damage has been irreversible," she said, with profits linked to her Instagram account -- which had amassed thousands of followers -- nosediving 80 percent.
"Online interactions have dramatically dropped since last year," she said.
The restrictions, which affected online activity including on Instagram and WhatsApp, come as millions of Iranians struggle to make ends meet, grappling with an economic crisis marked by soaring inflation and the Iranian rial's sharp decline.
Iran's economic woes were significantly compounded by Washington's 2018 decision to reimpose sanctions on Tehran after then-president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from a landmark nuclear deal.
"We cannot plan for the future anymore," Samimi lamented.
'Added cost'
Some 1,200 business owners have since called on Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi to lift the restrictions, according to local media.
To keep her business afloat, Samimi resorted to using virtual private networks and anti-filter tools to bypass the censorship.
Daily demand on VPN services in Iran rocketed to "3,082 percent higher than before the protests" last year, according to Top10VPN, a British-based digital security advocacy group.
Mohammad Rahim Pouya, a psychologist who offers online therapy sessions, said he lost more than 50 percent of his clients in the early days of the blackout.
The 32-year-old said he could maintain communication lines with clients in Iran but it was more challenging with those abroad.
For him, the use of anti-censorship tools was "an added cost and probably has security flaws".
"But what are the options?"
Finding ways around internet curbs has become commonplace in Iran where authorities have repeatedly blocked access over the years at times of unrest.
In 2009, access to social media networks was blocked during mass protests -- which became known as the Green Movement -- following a contentious presidential election that saw the populist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad take office.
Popular social media networks including Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter, have since been blocked.
A decade later, harsher curbs were imposed after protesters took to the streets over a government decision to raise fuel prices by 200 percent.
Costly curbs
In March, Iran's telecommunications minister Issa Zarepour urged foreign companies to introduce representative offices in Iran, saying "no one wants to limit the internet and we can have international platforms".
Meta, the American giant that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has said it has no intention of setting up offices in the Islamic republic, which remains under crippling US sanctions.
The internet curbs have been costly.
The government spent $773 million in 2022 alone to impose them, making it the second biggest spender on restrictions after Russia, according to Statista, a Germany-based data collection website.
In February, Iran's reformist Shargh daily reported that the country's internet service providers suffered 40 percent losses because of the restrictions.
With the bans on Western apps in place, Iranians have been left with little choice but to rely on state-backed apps.
But the homegrown alternatives for social networks and messaging apps -- like Bale, Ita, Rubika and Soroush -- have failed to garner significant popularity compared with their international alternatives.
Samimi says she has yet to "find any alternatives" to her now-dwindling online business on Instagram.
Likewise, Pouya insists on using international platforms through anti-censorship tools but he fears a total blackout.
"I wouldn't know what to do if they shut down (the internet) completely."
© 2023 AFP
Death of Mahsa Amini: 'Iran is not the same country one year on'
Issued on:
Arshas Alijani of the France 24 Observers team takes a look at how social and political attitudes have changed in Iran a year after the death of Mahsa Amini sparked a wave of protests across the country.
Iran: How Mahsa Amini’s death sparked a wave of protests
Issued on: 13/09/2023 -
02:00
One year ago, 22 year-old Mahsa Amini was stopped by the Iranian morality police in Tehran for not properly wearing her head scarf. She died in hospital three days later, sparking outrage across the country. France 24 takes a look back at some of the key moments of the protest movement her death triggered
‘Like urban warfare’: The women at the heart of Iran’s year of protests
Issued on: 13/09/2023 -
05:19
One year ago this week, the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in Iran sparked nationwide demonstrations against authorities in the Islamic Republic. For the women-led protests, the removal of the hijab became a symbol of defiance against what they viewed as an oppressive government. One year later, France 24 spoke to women inside Iran who took part in the demonstrations. They say, for now, the street protests have ended but their discontent remains. Correspondent Reza Sayah has more from Tehran.
'In absence of democratic structure', streets are 'ballot' of Iranians demanding 'change & justice'
Issued on: 13/09/2023 -
07:27
Video by: Genie GODULA
Snap checkpoints. Internet disruptions. University purges. Iran's theocracy is trying hard to both ignore the upcoming anniversary of nationwide protests over the country's mandatory headscarf law and tamp down on any possibility of more unrest. Yet the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini still reverberates across Iran. Some women are choosing to go without the headscarf, or hijab, despite an increasing crackdown by authorities. Graffiti, likely against Iran's government, is rapidly painted over in black by Tehran's municipal workers. University professors have been fired over their apparent support for demonstrators. International pressure remains high on Iran, even as the administration tries to deescalate tensions with other nations in the region and the West after years of confrontation. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective as Iran approaches the grim 1-year anniversary of the killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini and the unprecedented anti-government protests that followed, FRANCE 24's Genie Godula is joined by Azadeh Pourzand, Author, PHD Researcher at SOAS, University of London, focussing on women and activism in Iran.
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