ICT min. lashes out at Instagram for blocking Iranian cmdrs accounts

TEHRAN (defapress) – Iranian ICT minister condemned Instagram's move to block accounts attributed to Iranian commanders, pointing to a famous quote by an American novelist.

News ID: 76870

Date: 17 April 2019 - 14:05

In a Tuesday tweet in response to Instagram blockings, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi took a quote from the well-known novelist George R. R. Martin who says, “When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say.”

Following Washington’s controversial decision to designate IRGC as a ‘foreign terrorist organization’, Instagram has started to block pages of Iranian commanders. Facebook’s sister photo and video-sharing networking service has reportedly confirmed the measure, saying that it is acting on Washington’s sanctions law.

The targeted pages include those of the IRGC’s chief commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, Major Quds Force commander Major General Ghasem Soleimani, Commander of the IRGC’s Ground Force Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri, Brigadier General Moussa Kamali, and Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, a former commander of the IRGC’s Air Force.

There also reports indicating that Facebook is also going to block accounts of IRGC personnel.

In a retaliatory measure, the Iranian Parliament approved a bill which recognizes American forces in West Asia, known as the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), as a terrorist organization.

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