Iranian authorities warn MPs against using Twitter

On Sunday the Iranian Council for the Guardians of the Constitution has warned MPs against using Twitter, stating that it was an illegal practice, which could cost them their positions.

Kabar news website quoted the council’s spokesman, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, who said that “the council will react against anything that could distort the ideological qualifications of the candidates,” referring to Twitter, which many MPs are still using despite the official ban.

Iran’s Guardian Council is monitoring the ideological qualifications of the candidates of parliamentary and presidential elections.

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Reformists in Iran consider the 12-member council as unprogressive and undemocratic.

Although Twitter has been banned in Iran for several years, it is widely used in other ways, and many Iranian media outlets are on Twitter as is President Hassan Rouhani.

President @HassanRouhani : Access to information, citizens' key rightshttps://t.co/em47ARHhnd pic.twitter.com/eIDbDLyI53

— IRNA News Agency (@IrnaEnglish) December 19, 2017

Last week, Rouhani said that the decision of the judicial authorities to withhold the application of Telegram, contradicts democracy and the course of his government. He pointed out that this decision is consistent with the vision of senior officials in the regime, implicitly referring to the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.