A/HRC/19/82 34. The decision of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance to close the Iranian House of Cinema, which was founded 20 years ago and registered as a non-governmental institute, received considerable attention both locally and internationally. The institute was the parent group for motion picture guilds and a forum of visual artistic expression with more than 5,000 members. The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance claimed that the guild had been established without following required legal procedures, and that amendments had been made to its charter without the Iran Public Culture Council having been informed. Marzieh Vafamehr, a prominent actress who was arrested in June 2011, was released in October 2011 after having spent nearly five months in Varamin prison, southeast of Tehran. Ms. Vafamehr was charged with having participated in “the production of a vulgar film” and “anti-sharia conduct”, for pretending to drink alcohol, shaving her head and appearing without hijab (Islamic dress) in a film. She was initially sentenced to one year in prison and 90 lashes, which was, however, commuted to a suspended sentence of three months of imprisonment. 35. On 28 December 2011, authorities reportedly blocked access to the website run by the Chairman of the Expediency Council, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. On 2 January 2012, the Prosecutor-General, Gholam Mohsen Eijei, confirmed that the website had been blocked because it had criminal content.52 Authorities also reportedly introduced a new set of regulations that require all Internet cafés to install surveillance cameras and collect personal information about their customers.53 According to media reports, police closed down a number of Internet cafés and arrested their owners for using proxies and not implementing proper security measures. 54 Access to foreign webmail services, such as Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail, reportedly also continues to be disrupted. On 11 February 2012, the semi-official Mehr news outlet reported that, since 9 February 2012, more than 30 million people in the Islamic Republic of Iran had no access to their foreign e-mail accounts.55 Declaring Internet access a human right, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of the rights to freedom of opinion and expression has stressed that everyone has the right to express himself or herself through any media or new communication technologies such as the Internet; for that reason, restricting access completely was in breach of article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 56 36. During the period under review, a number of newspapers were banned and several others had their licenses revoked. On 5 November 2011, Iranian authorities reportedly banned Rozgar for two months for propaganda against the system and for having published classified information.57 Another daily newspaper, Etemad, was reportedly closed down for alleged propaganda against the system, acts against national security, publication of unfounded issues and insult. On 20 November 2011, the Tehran Prosecutor confirmed the suspension of activities of Etemad.58 In 2011, authorities also reportedly issued a blacklist of publishers and writers and suspended the licenses of numerous publishers. Several publishers were allegedly prevented from exhibiting at the Tehran International Book Fair. Writers have also reportedly been subjected to harassment by tax authorities or censorship 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 from www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16874177. See also Human Rights Watch, “Iran: Stop Holding Reporters’ Relatives Hostage”, 3 February 2012. Available from www.hrw.org/news/2012/02/02/iran-stop-holding-reporters-relatives-hostage. Mehrnews, 2 January 2012. Seewww.mehrnews.com/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=1499708. ISNA, 3 January 2012. Seehttp://isna.ir/ISNA/newsView.aspx?ID=news-1923707. Ibid., 1 January 2012. See www.isna.ir/ISNA/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-1922195. Mehrnews, 11 February 2012. Seewww.mehrnews.com/fa/newsdetail.aspx?NewsID=1531304. A/HRC/17/27. ISNA, 5 September 2011. Seewww.isna.ir/ISNA/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-1840700. Ibid., 20 November 2011. See www.isna.ir/ISNA/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-1894235&lang=p 13