Analysis of Iranian Surveillance Platform

Well, Farnoush, we looked into the Elaaj system's platform.

It has been published since last night. Even state TV

aired a detailed report about it last night.

This is part of their website. If we go back to the previous image,

we can actually see that

information on a large number of Iranians living outside

the country has been published publicly. Their photos are there,

and if we return to that image, these photos, of course, have not had their faces blurred.

We blurred them to protect their identities.

But as its name suggests, it is in fact a threat in a way.

It has asked people to report Iranians living abroad

and those who are in some way political opponents of the regime or are

in conflict with the regime.

Any personal information they have about them

should be reported here, to the Elaaj system, and they

publish it. When we examined this system, we actually saw that highly detailed information

واقع دیدیم که اطلاعات بسیار جزئی

It has information about these people. If we can go to the next image,

we can see that a profile has been created for each person,

like the one here. This profile, in addition to containing the picture of that

person, includes highly personal information, such as their date of birth,

place of residence, father's name, and even their national ID number or

job, the university they attend, all of it

is recorded there.

Is it clear how they obtained this information?

This is a very important question that we still don't know the answer to.

But since this system has asked people

to provide them with this information, in fact, citizens have been asked

to spy, in a way, on other citizens.

Some of this information may have been obtained through people close to them

or other people who are in some way acquainted with them.

Because on this page, we can even see a large number of these people's

social media posts have been posted here.

is provided. Even their family photos, photos of their children

or even, in one case, references to the

family relationships of these individuals, which shows just how extensively this information has been

collected and categorized. And now this

highly personal information is being publicly displayed.

And, well, this raises a lot of concerns

because

it, in a way, encourages citizens to spy on one another.

One thing I came across when I was looking at this website

One thing I came across when I was looking at this website

That it is unclear who oversees and runs

this website and the system as a whole.

Have you reached any conclusions in your research?

Exactly. We still haven't been able to reach a conclusion in this

regard.

But there is a very important point,

Ferensh. When we look at this website,

a great deal of content

about the judiciary has been published here. Even threats against Iranians outside

the country that

Opponents of the government, a sort of reference is made here

to laws recently passed by the judiciary

or by Iran's Parliament, such as the law intensifying

the punishment of spies or combating enemy agents.

In recent months, especially after the war, the judiciary has repeatedly

referred to confiscating property. But it is still unclear

which government or security body in Iran

the Elaaj system is actually affiliated with.

They themselves have not even announced anything about this

on this website.

Is it clear what the purpose of this project is at all?

The purpose of this project could be said to be

intimidation and, in fact, identifying opponents.

They said that, so far, 1,600 people

have been identified and monitored, and of these 1,600 people,

as is clear here, it says that 600 of them

were identified through public reports.

Information on 60 people has so far been published on this website, and it has been said

that legal action has been taken against 40 people. And what form this legal action actually takes.

There, it was mentioned that, for example, it may be possible that

their assets in Iran could be confiscated, expedited proceedings could be conducted

against them, their civil rights could somehow be stripped away, which

could be very wide-ranging. Since, after all, even Iranians outside

the country

have rights as, in fact, nationals of Iran.

Or temporary detention was mentioned, perhaps under circumstances where, if they

They want them to return to Iran and, say, get arrested.

And as is mentioned again here on the website, in fact,

they are placing great emphasis on the law on harsher punishment

for espionage and collaboration with the Zionist regime, which they mean

It is Israel. The rhetoric the Islamic Republic uses

does.

In fact, they portray every kind of opposition

as espionage in this system.