A/HRC/28/70 from 8 to 14 November 2014, entitled “Freedom with responsibility”. Unfortunately, the positive comments on media freedom made by some officials at the event, including those from the Ministry, are at odds with the current treatment of journalists and bloggers in the country. 31. Since July 2014, at least 13 journalists and bloggers have been arrested or detained (see annex I), and at least 8 journalists have been released upon completion of their prison sentences. As at December 2014, 30 journalists were being held in detention (see annex I).21 Charges include vaguely worded “national security” crimes, such as “propaganda against the system”, “assembly and collusion against the system”, “insulting the Supreme Leader” and “spreading falsehoods with intent to agitate the public consciousness”. In September 2014, the Supreme Court of the Islamic Republic of Iran upheld the death sentence for Soheil Arabi, a blogger convicted of sabb al-nabi (insulting the Prophet of Islam) for comments he allegedly posted on several Facebook accounts. He was also convicted of “insulting government officials”, “insulting the Supreme Leader” and “propaganda against the system”. In its comments on the present document, the Government claimed that Mr. Arabi “injured [sic] public religion sensation”. 32. Iranian authorities also reportedly continue to close publications and television stations deemed subversive to certain elements of the political establishment. The Ghanoun, Bahar and Aseman newspapers were permitted to resume publication, after having been shut down for content deemed offensive.22 On 23 December 2014, Roozan, another newspaper, was closed by order of the Prosecutor’s Office of Tehran, apparently in relation to an article it had published marking the fifth anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri. In August 2014, five privately owned religious stations (Imam Hossein, Abolfazal Abass, Alghaem, Alzahra and Almehdi) were closed after being accused by the Ministry of Intelligence of working illegally for satellite television stations based in the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, provoking sectarian tension within Islam, showing a degrading image of Shi’ism and insulting the holy figures of Islam. On 8 January 2015, the Ministry announced that the offices of 17 satellite television channels that “supported enemies that were provoking sectarian tension within Islam” would be closed.23 33. The blocking and filtering of websites continues to be ubiquitous and is apparently ordered by multiple agencies. It is unclear whether national laws provide the agencies with legal authority to interfere with websites. In October 2014, the Head of the Administrative Court and the Office of the Attorney General criticized the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance for directly shutting down websites that did not possess permits, arguing that neither the Ministry nor the Press Supervisory Board had the power to do so without an order from the Office of the Attorney General.24 In November, the Working Group on Determining Instances of Criminal Content confirmed that the Ministry of Information and Technology would continue to filter access to data on Instagram. 25 In December 2014, the Fars News Agency reported that “immoral” pages on Instagram had been blocked. 21 22 23 24 25 10 See also the Committee to Protect Journalists, special report, 17 December 2014, https://cpj.org/reports/2014/12/journalists-in-prison-china-is-worlds-worst-jailer.php. British Broadcasting Corporation, 13 November 2014, www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2014/11/141113_l45_aseman_daily. Fars News Agency (semi-official news), 4 January 2015, www.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn= 13931014000459. Radio Farda, 14 October 2014, www.radiofarda.com/content/f6_iran_websites_filtering/26637464.html. Iranian Students’ News Agency, 11 November 2014, http://isna.ir/fa/news/93082010296/.