Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has submitted an urgent bill to parliament that would impose harsher penalties on social media users and content creators who publish what authorities describe as false or misleading information.
The draft legislation, developed with the judiciary’s input and approved by the cabinet late in June, includes 22 articles aimed at combating what officials call the spread of “fake news” in digital spaces.
The proposal would introduce prison sentences, fines, and bans on media activity for users found guilty under the new provisions.
According to the bill, penalties will be intensified if the content is shared by people with public influence — such as celebrities, experts, government employees, or those with significant online followings.
The proposed law also criminalizes the use of fake accounts, bots, or automated systems to publish content, and calls for increased penalties for repeated offenses or posts made during crises or wartime that authorities deem threatening to national security.
The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance would be tasked with operating a national platform to receive public reports on digital content and issue warnings. It would also be responsible for forwarding relevant cases to the judiciary for potential prosecution.
In the bill’s preamble, the government cited the rapid spread of online content, the rise of citizen journalism, and the psychological and societal risks posed by misinformation — including alleged damage to public trust, government credibility, and national cohesion.
The bill is now under urgent review in parliamentary committees, following its formal submission on July 20 with signatures from President Pezeshkian and Justice Minister Amin-Hossein Rahimi.
The legislative push comes amid growing concern over a wave of arrests and prosecutions following last month’s ceasefire between Iran and Israel.
Earlier this month, United Nations experts urged Iranian authorities to halt what they described as a post-war crackdown, marked by executions, arbitrary detentions, and online censorship.
Human rights group HRANA reported that at least 823 Iranians have been charged with political or security-related offenses since the war began, with 286 detained for online activities, including posts about the conflict with Israel.
"We have presented 1,062 martyrs in this war, including 102 women and 38 children," Fatemeh Mohajerani said in her weekly press briefing. She added that five paramedics, five nurses, and seven emergency responders were also among the casualties.
The civilian toll also included 34 students and five educators. “A number of university professors and academic staff were also martyred,” she said, though she did not provide a specific figure.
Tehran province reported the highest number of fatalities, with 265 people killed.
The government also outlined significant damage to civilian infrastructure. Thirty-six schools across 16 provinces were damaged, along with 219 industrial units ranging from large factories to small production sites.
“Seven hospitals and 11 ambulances were hit, and approximately 8,000 residential units were damaged,” Mohajerani said.Damage was also reported to the homes of 22 university professors.
"Despite the destruction, the reconstruction process has begun," she said, adding that during the conflict, 230 schools were used as shelters and 56 were designated for displaced people.
Mohajerani also said, “The attack on Evin Prison constitutes a war crime according to international institutions.”
The numbers announced by Iran match those accounted for by rights group HRANA. In its post-war report, the group said the conflict resulted in 5,665 casualties, including 1,190 deaths and 4,475 injured, both military and civilian.
Evin Prison attack led to inmate escape, 27 remain at large
Iran’s judiciary confirmed on Tuesday that 75 inmates escaped during last month’s Israeli strike on Tehran’s Evin Prison, and 27 remain unaccounted for.
Judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir said most of the escapees were low-risk detainees held on minor charges or under light detention orders. “So far, 48 inmates have either returned voluntarily or been arrested,” he said.
Jahangir stressed that “there are no spies or inmates with security-related or major charges among those who escaped.” He added that the identities of those still at large are known, and they will be arrested if they do not turn themselves in.
On June 23, Israel launched multiple missiles at Tehran’s Evin Prison, calling the facility a “tool of repression.” Long seen as a symbol of Iran’s political crackdown, the prison was rocked by explosions that destroyed key areas, including several wards, the infirmary, and the visitation hall, causing immediate and devastating losses.
Among the dead were two prison officials, Ruhollah Tavasoli and Vahid Heydarpour, as well as Evin’s chief prosecutor, Ali Ghanaatkar. Numerous detainees, medical staff, visiting family members — including a young child — and a bystander were also killed.
A judiciary spokesman said on June 29 that 71 people had been confirmed dead, though authorities have yet to release a full list of victims.
According to the UN International Organization for Migration, nearly 700,000 Afghans were deported from Iran in the first half of 2025. A full 130,000 were expelled within just one week after the 12-day war between Iran and Israel. Many had lived in Iran for decades.
Far from an aberration, the recent wave of arrests, public humiliation and mass expulsions of Afghan migrants is a continuation of Tehran's decades-old political manipulation of one of the most vulnerable populations in the region.
The Islamic Republic's founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini famously declared that "Islam has no borders" and welcomed Afghan refugees fleeing a Soviet invasion in 1979.
But beyond this ideological gesture, Tehran never offered a clear legal or humanitarian framework for integration. Millions of Afghans entered Iran, only to be denied citizenship, legal employment or access to education and healthcare.
Over the decades, Afghan migrants have been treated as expendable tools in Tehran’s shifting policies in the region.
They were recruited to fight in Syria as part of the “Fatemiyoun” Brigade, exploited as cheap undocumented labor inside Iran and periodically threatened with mass expulsion in bouts of official populism.
During moments of domestic discontent, Afghan migrants became convenient targets to deflect public anger.
Under President Ebrahim Raisi, the policy of exploitation took on new dimensions. In the wake of the Taliban's return to power in 2021, a massive influx of Afghan refugees entered Iran and as many as around two million Afghans crossed the border within two years.
Rather than developing a comprehensive migration policy, Tehran allowed its border regions to turn into chaotic transit points run by smugglers and corrupt officials.
Xenophobia
In the aftermath of Israel’s devastating strikes on Iranian military and nuclear sites, domestic frustration reached boiling point.
The Islamic Republic, seeking to redirect the public's discontent, amplified xenophobic narratives portraying Afghans as a threat to national security.
Despite isolated claims of rising crime among Afghans, official figures show otherwise.
Iran's judiciary reports that Afghan nationals comprise only about 6% of the prison population—roughly in line with their proportion of the total population. The majority of these arrests are for undocumented entry or labor violations, not violent or organized crime.
Ghosts of policies past
In 2001, following the fall of the Taliban, I traveled to the border town of Taybad and the nearby Islam Qala crossing and I was able to personally witness the brutal consequences of this policy.
There, I saw mass graves of Hazara refugees who had been forcibly returned by the Islamic Republic and summarily executed by Taliban fighters in the deserts surrounding the town.
Tehran knew that these Shia Hazaras were at extreme risk, yet still arrested them in Iranian cities, detained them in camps in the east and deported them into the hands of their eventual killers. This memory haunts me to this day.
The recent expulsions have also generated heartbreaking testimonies. Haajar Shademani, a 19-year-old Afghan born in Shiraz, told AFP she was forced to leave the only home she ever knew.
Denied access to Iranian universities and now blocked from education under Taliban rule, she faces an uncertain future.
The Islamic Republic’s interference in Afghanistan has extended far beyond its borders. Over the past two decades, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), through its Ansar Corps based in eastern Iran, has pursued an interventionist policy in Afghan affairs.
Military and intelligence advisors operated on the ground while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs established a dedicated Afghanistan Affairs Office, often in conflict with the IRGC’s goals.
These interventions disrupted Afghanistan’s internal balance and forced thousands more civilians to flee.
Moreover, Tehran deliberately resettled the families of Afghan political and military elites inside Iran, creating dependencies that undermined Afghan sovereignty.
This too was part of a broader strategy: open-door policies were never humanitarian in intent—they were designed to serve Iran’s strategic interests.
As Tehran continues to wage psychological warfare against Afghan migrants, reports of mob violence, arson, and public beatings have become more frequent.
In this climate of state-sanctioned hostility, ultra-conservative media figures portray any defense of Afghan rights as treason.
Policymakers and human rights advocates in Washington and European capitals should call out Tehran's exploitation of Afghan refugees.
This community is not a plaything—Afghans are survivors of a conflict-plagued country, and their dignity must not be sacrificed for political expediency.
Afghan migrants deserve justice, protection, and the chance to live free from fear—not another generation of displacement and death.
