Iran Cracks Down On Social Media Accounts For ‘Discouraging’ Voting

(RFE/RL) -- Iran has opened court cases against two Telegram accounts and summoned 100 people for allegedly calling for a boycott of the recent presidential election.

Some 500 Instagram accounts were also found to have committed “election violations,” Iranian judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangiritoldreporters on July 10.

Without naming the Telegram and Instagram accounts, Jahangiri said they had all “tried to discourage people from voting.”

Ahead of the first round of voting on June 28, the Iranian governmentissuedstrict guidelines criminalizing efforts to boycott the election or discourage high turnout.

Jahangiri said that throughout the election period, 3,980 people suspected of violating the guidelines had been “offered guidance.”

Some 113 people were detained on July 5 when the runoff vote was held, but “most were released on the same day” after posting bail and giving a written statement vowing not to repeat their offense.

Reformist lawmaker Masud Pezeshkian won the presidential election after beating his hard-line rival, Saeed Jalili, in the runoff.

The election was called following the death of hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May.

In the lead-up to first round of the election, Tehran’s prosecutorfiled chargesagainst media outlets Hashieh News and Bamdad-e No for allegedly publishing fake stories about the election.

Iranian dissidents have for years demanded a boycott of elections, arguing that voting has failed to result in reforms in the Islamic republic.

The first round of voting on June 28 saw a record-low turnout of 39.9 percent for a presidential election. Voter participation increased to 49.8 percent in the second round.

In its most recent report, Reporters Without Borders described Iran as “one of the most repressive countries in terms of press freedom” and said it was “one of the world’s biggest jailers of journalists.”