This is a caption

This is a caption
Maryam Shafiepour

In recent months, the solidarity of Persian-speaking users on social networks, especially Twitter, has caused several news related to Iran to become widely discussed or, as they say, “trending” in the virtual world. In some cases, this collective empathy has resulted in desired outcomes in the real world, while in others, it has remained in the form of words behind hashtags with no tangible results.

One of the recent controversial issues was the Twitter storm in support of Arash Sadeghi’s request for his wife’s freedom and a review of his case with the hashtag or symbol #SaveArash. The “Save Arash” storm turned Arash Sadeghi’s name, who has been on a hunger strike for over seventy days in absolute silence of the Persian media, into the hottest topic on Twitter for hours. This event sparked reactions from some Iranian government officials. Specifically, two members of parliament, Sadeghi and Motahari, promised to follow up on the situation of this political prisoner on their social media pages. Ali Larijani, the speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, got involved and a group of parliament members met and negotiated with judicial authorities. In addition to the Persian-speaking community, this hashtag also had an impact on international public opinion and led to the support and solidarity of non-Iranian users, celebrities, and even the declaration of support from some

Only two days after this issue became hot on social media, a group of civil activists gathered on the 71st day of Arash Sadeghi’s hunger strike in front of Evin Prison in Tehran and demanded his release. Dozens of people participated in this gathering, holding signs that read “We are Arash and Golrokh” and protesting against the continued imprisonment of Arash Sadeghi and his wife Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee. This protest did not face a harsh reaction from the government.

Finally, after setting a bail of one billion tomans and granting temporary leave to Golrokh Ebrahimi, the wife of Arash Sadeghi, and also reviewing his legal case, it was agreed and Arash Sadeghi ended his hunger strike after seventy-two days. The head of the judiciary, indirectly expressing his opinion, reacted to the attacks of online activists in support of this political prisoner and complained.

After the storm, it seems that a dimension of the capacity of social networks (especially Twitter) in pursuing demands for various political spectrums became clear for Arash Sadeghi and the resulting controversies. Many reformist figures joined the Twitter user community organizationally and on the other hand, the number and activities of clerics, seminary students, and individuals known as “Hezbollahi and Value-based” are increasing day by day. Last month, the Deputy Attorney General announced the launch of an 18,000-member Basij in the virtual space to monitor illegal websites. (1) The eagerness and fear of using this opportunity to raise demands and questions, both from the Iranian government and from critics, is indicative of the level of influence of social networks in Iran today.

The history of the first Farsi tweets dates back to the winter of 1385 (2006). Until two years later, only a few users, mostly bloggers and technology enthusiasts, were using Twitter to share personal interests and daily life updates. Regular users would see Twitter links shared on blogs or Friendfeed. At that time, the main focus of political news enthusiasts was on “Balatarin”. On Friendfeed, critics and more extreme opponents would gather, while reformists would discuss current issues on Google Reader. According to old Twitter users, the atmosphere of this social network changed after the events of 1388 (2009) and became a means of accessing news from outside of Iran. Some international Twitter users would follow a list of few Iranian users who tweeted in English to keep up with domestic news. Foreign users would change their location to Tehran and their profile pictures to show support for the protesting people, in order to disrupt the tracking of 20 individuals by Iranian security agencies. Twitter even

The first Persian hashtags on Twitter were specific to individuals and related to their interests. Hashtagging in Persian was not possible. The writer was not able to see the number of likes and people who liked their tweet, and mentioning others was not easy. Later, with the addition of these features, the competition for popularity brought a humorous tone to the tweets. Twitter became lively and friendship circles were formed. As the first Persian hashtag, we can mention “#Shoorkoo” in protest against group attacks on Twitter. With the start of the protest space after the 88 elections, regular users also began tweeting about political events of the day; but the first social and political hashtags among Persian-speaking users were related to the disappearance of Iranian mountaineers and the captivity of Iranian soldiers by the Army of Justice. The issue of the health of Omid Kokabi, a scientist who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for refusing to cooperate with the Iranian government and was diagnosed with cancer in prison,

It can be said that the space of activity on social networks for users is changing from a recreational position towards serious political and social activity. A space that is now being used by various groups as a platform for debate, raising awareness, and influencing public opinion in a serious manner, has become one of the influential elements in the competition equations for the upcoming elections.

Sources:

“18,000 volunteers report internet violations, BBC Persian website, 9 February 2017”

“The Twitter Revolution in Iran was exaggerated,” The Guardian website, June 9, 2010.