In 2009, the Islamic Republic of Iran adopted the Publication and Free Access to Information Act,17 which partially recognizes the right to access information as guaranteed under international law.18 The Act, however, suffers from shortcomings, including broad exemptions undermining its effectiveness. Some of the Act’s shortcomings include restrictions on the publication of information deemed to cause disgrace or contravenes public decency or promotes vice (Article 17). Additionally, the Act fails to establish a clear appeal mechanism and the oversight body created under its provisions reportedly lacks independence. Chapter Five of the Act creates the Commission for Free Publication and Access to Information with a Secretariat to provide oversight and act as an appeals mechanism, however the Commission is not independent as its members are all senior government officials representing powerful public bodies, many of which have little or no commitment to transparency.19 20 21 Restrictions on the free communication of information and ideas extend online. For instance, the Criminal Cyber Law criminalizes the publication of information considered against Islamic tenets or the Constitution, to be disrupting public or national security or to amount to propaganda against the State.22 23 The Cyber Criminal Code Committee24 decides which websites shall be filtered or shut down altogether.25 Such restrictive legal provisions grant Iranian authorities’ significant discretion to impose overbroad and vague restrictions on individuals’ rights to freedom of expression and to information in violation of the country’s international human rights obligations. Indeed, Iranian legal restrictions are inconsistent with international standards which stipulate that restrictions must be narrowly defined, pursue a legitimate aim, conform to the strict tests of necessity and proportionality and be compatible with Article 19(3) of the International Covenant on Civil and 17 Iran: Review of the Publication and Free Access to Information Act 2009”, ARTICLE 19, September 2017, available at: https://www.article19.org/resources/iran-review-of-the-publication-and-free-access-to-information-act-2009-2/ 18 UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 34 Article 19: Freedoms of opinion and expression, (2011), paras, 18 & 19, available at: http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4ed34b562.pdf 19 Iran: Review of the Publication and Free Access to Information Act 2009”, ARTICLE 19, September 2017, available at https://www.article19.org/resources/iran-review-of-the-publication-and-free-access-to-information-act-2009-2/ 20 See more: NGO joint submission to the Human Rights Committee, 2020, Article 19, Small Media, Human Rights Activists in Iran, Impact Iran, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CCPR_ICS_IRN_42315_E.pdf 21 See more: Article 19, https://www.article19.org/right-to-info-iran/ 22 See more: Article 19, https://www.article19.org/data/files/medialibrary/2921/12-01-30-FINAL-iran-WEB%5B4%5D.pdf 23 See also: Volunteer Activists, https://volunteeractivists.nl/en/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Civil-Society-in-Iran-and-its-FutureProspects-pdf.pdf 24 “The Cyber Criminal Code Committee consists of the following Ministers: Education, Communication and Digital Information, Judiciary, Intelligence, Culture and Islamic Guidance, Science and Research, as well as Islamic Propaganda Organization, the head of IRIB (Iran’s Broadcasting Company), the Police Force Chief, a representative of Parliament (delegated by the legal and judiciary committees of Parliament) and an expert on digital and internet sciences (also delegated by Parliament).” See more: https://volunteeractivists.nl/en/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Civil-Society-in-Iran-and-its-FutureProspects-pdf.pdf 25 The Committee has a list of filtered online items on the Iran’s Cyber Police’s website. 3