Fatemeh Mohajerani: The internet was shut down to save human lives.
Fatemeh Mohajerani, the spokesperson for the Islamic Republic’s government, claimed in response to journalists’ questions about the ongoing internet shutdown in Iran that the government’s approach is the free flow of information. However, she mentioned the statistics of over three thousand deaths in recent protests, stating that security agencies have prevented the restoration of the internet.
She also claimed that shutting down the internet is necessary to save human lives but did not explain how the internet could endanger people’s lives.
Meanwhile, many international human rights organizations and fact-finding groups have reported the number of protest fatalities to be significantly higher than this figure. Due to the internet shutdown and severe communication restrictions, precise access to information and statistics regarding the deaths, injuries, and arrests in these protests is still not possible.