Human Rights Watch
International PEN
Reporters without Borders

We, the undersigned, hereby express our condemnation of the forthcoming legislation to implement blanket filtering of Internet traffic in Iran.

The Iranian Government has systematically and methodically denied Iranians the ability to speak freely and communicate with each other and with people outside of the country, through suppression of the national press, television, telephone calls and now the Internet. The free expression of ideas and opinions is cherished by Iranians, and we hold this to be a fundamental human right. We condemn all efforts by governments and telecommunication firms both within Iran and outside of the country who implement restrictions to the free exchange of speech and ideas.

We respectfully request that you place pressure upon both your local and the Iranian governments to reinstate free speech and communication on the Internet, and limit censorship of traffic to material that is universally, unanimously and internationally condemned.