On 29 April 2020, Colonel Mohammad Ali Rajabi, the head of the Cyber Police Diagnosis and Prevention Center, stated that his forces have detained citizens with a charge of “spreading rumors” about the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier, on April 28, the General Staff of the Armed Forces’ spokesperson, Abolfazl Shekarchi, admired the Cyber Police (FATA) for countering the “misinformation campaign.”
“3,600 people who have been spreading rumors on social media were arrested by the police and the (Paramilitary) Basij forces, and 1,136 lawsuits have been filed against them,” he added.
The arresting of citizens who only uploaded footage of coronavirus patients and victims proves that the Iranian government’s wants to conceal the truth.
Earlier in the year in February, the Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei desired to have crowds on the streets on the processions marking the 41st anniversary of the victory of the “Islamic Revolution.” He also would try to drag many people on the polls in the Parliamentary elections in February. This is in despite knowing that there was coronavirus epidemic arising and that crowds on the streets would spread the disease.
There are reports that these state directed crowds did indeed contribute to the increase of the coronavirus disease in Iran which has now taken ten's of thousands of lives.
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