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Hi John,
As we have watched the scenes in Iran unfold over the last week, we are both deeply disturbed by the brutal murder of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the so-called “morality” police, and inspired by the courage of the Iranian people who have taken to the streets yet again to stand up for their most basic rights.
Many of us continue to worry that the state will respond to the protests with further violence, rather than listening to Iranians who are saying enough is enough. For many of us, we want to express our outrage while at the same time not play into the hands of those in Washington and elsewhere who exploit tragedy inside Iran to advance their own hawkish agenda of policies that harm the Iranian people, while further enriching and radicalizing their authoritarian rulers.
Above all, we hear members of our community asking “what can we do?” Ultimately, we believe that a policy focused on engagement is the only approach that can actually help Iranians demand and secure their rights. Tensions and maximum pressure benefit Iran's authoritarian state and we have seen how these have been exploited to consolidate power against the Iranian people. In the near term, while U.S. officials have rightly expressed solidarity with the rights of Iranians to protest, there are other concrete actions our government can take.
Namely, supporting internet freedom in Iran by revising sanctions licensing – General License D-1 – which hasn’t been updated since 2014. Today, NIAC reiterated its call from May for the administration to revise sanctions licensing to more explicitly authorize internet service providers and web developers to operate in Iran. As tech and human rights experts have warned for years, existing authorizations are sorely out of date which has pushed key firms and platforms - like Google and Amazon Web Services - out of the Iranian market. This has made it far easier for Iranian authorities to cut off users from the global internet and to cut off the internet in times of unrest, as we are seeing today.
We are saddened and appalled by the cruelty Iranians have endured but we continue to be in awe of their unyielding courage in the face of injustice. We must take advantage of the freedoms allowed here, in the U.S., and raise our voices in service to ordinary Iranians. While they demand justice and freedom of expression in Iran, let’s join them in demanding our government take action to not stifle Iranian freedom of expression on the internet.
Take action today to support greater internet freedom for Iranians >
Thank you,
Jamal Abdi
President, NIAC
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