Abdolsamad Khorramabadi
- Deputy of Cyberspace Affairs at the Attorney General\'s Office (2009 - 2018)
- Human Rights Violation: Controlling and censoring internet and prosecution of cyberspace users (2009 - 2018) read more
- Institution
- Attorney General
- Location
- (National)
- Rights Violated
- Right to freedom of expression
- Description
-
Abdul Samad Khorramabadi, as the Deputy of Cyberspace Affairs at the Attorney General's Office, and Secretary of the Working Group on Determining Instances of Criminal Content, was directly responsible in controlling and censoring the internet and blocking more than 5 million websites, including blocking access to Google Search Engine, Gmail, and messenger services such as Telegram.
Khorramabadi and the working group under his supervision have also been actively involved in the detention of blogger Sattar Beheshti, who was tortured to death by the FATA cyberpolice..
- Sources
Khorramabadi: 5 million websites were blocked in Iran, Mehr News Agency, 19 November, 2008
Abdolsamad Khorramabadi should be included in the list of human rights sanctions due to blocking Google and Gmail, Justice for Iran, October 2012
https://justice4iran.org/persian/call-for-action/khoramabadi/
Khorramabadi: Telegram will never be unblocked, Tasnim, August 2016
'Google and Gmail are filtered in Iran', BBC Farsi, 2012
https://www.bbc.com/persian/iran/2012/09/120923_l45_google_gmail_filtering
Iran Blocking Access to 5 Million Websites, Radio Farda, November 2008
https://www.rferl.org/a/Iran_Blocks_Access_to_5_Million_Websites/1351604.html
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue, United Nation General Assembly, 16 May 2011
https://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/17session/A.HRC.17.27_en.pdf
- Human Rights Violation: Controlling and censoring internet and prosecution of cyberspace users (2009 - 2018) read more
- Secretary of the Working Group on Determining Instances of Criminal Content (2009 - 2018)
- Judge at the Court of Appeal, Tehran Province (Unknown)
- Deputy of Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor, Tehran Province (Unknown)
- Supervising Deputy of the prosecution offices (2018 - present)
On 12 March, 2013, the European Union imposed sanctions on Abdolsamad Khorramabadi for gross and widespread violations of the rights of Iranian citizens. As a result, Khoramabadi was barred from entering the European Union and his assets will be frozen in Europe.
According to the EU statement, Abdul Samad Khorramabadi, as Secretary of the Working Group on Determining Instances of Criminal Content, was responsible for repression and the blocking of numerous opposition sites, electronic newspapers, blogs, sites of human rights NGOs and of Google and Gmail since September 2012. According to this statement, Abdolsamad Khorramabadi and the entities under his supervision were actively involved in the death of blogger Sattar Beheshti in detention.
On 30 May, 2018, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Abdolsamad Khorramabadi for being involved in "serious human rights violations" through Internet censorship in Iran. As a result, the American citizens and institutions are prohibited from any business interaction with Khorramabadi, his potential assets in the United States will be frozen, and he will be barred from travelling to the United States.
According to a statement from the US Treasury Department, Abdul Samad Khorramabadi, as Secretary of the Working Group on Determining Instances of Criminal Content, oversaw the filtering and blocking of access to political material on the Internet. According to this statement, Khorramabadi also ordered Basij forces in 2017 to crack down on cyber activities.