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'Iranian YouTube' CEO Sentenced To 10 Years Over Video Uploaded By User (rferl.org) 125

The founder and manager of Iran's main video-sharing platform, referred to by some as Iran's YouTube, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after being convicted of "encouraging corruption" over a video posted by a user. Radio Free Europe reports: In the video posted on Aparat.com last year, children were asked whether they know how they were born, Iranian media reported. The verdict against Aparat Chief Executive Officer Mohammad Javad Shakuri Moghadam was reported by domestic media on October 25. The sentence was reportedly issued in mid-October by Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court presided over by judge Mohammad Moghiseh, who is known for handing down harsh sentences. Moghiseh was last year blacklisted by the U.S. State Department for miscarriage of justice.

Shakuri Moghadam, who was awarded a government medal of honor as one of the country's top entrepreneurs about two years ago, can appeal the sentence. The controversial video was said to have been removed an hour after being posted on Aparat, which has millions of Iranian users. The producers of the video were also arrested with authorities then claiming that they had received complaints from concerned citizens and families. The BBC reported that seven others accused in the case have been each sentenced to 11 years in prison after being convicted of "encouraging corruption" and "publishing vulgar content."

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'Iranian YouTube' CEO Sentenced To 10 Years Over Video Uploaded By User

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  • by Somervillain ( 4719341 ) on Monday October 26, 2020 @08:09PM (#60652444)
    I never believe the publicly religious. With US Christians, he more conspicuous your faith, the more likely you're hiding something. This guy is an entrepreneur who, from the article, didn't resist and complied in an hour. He's creating jobs and bringing in tax revenue and making the country look more prestigious. Most corrupt regimes like Iran give guys like him a pass.

    So...what's the real story?

    Who did he forget to bribe?
    Did he support a critic of a leader?
    What are they not telling us?

    I don't believe Iran really applies Sharia Law fairly. Regimes like that use it as justification for routine totalitarianism and totalitarians LOVE successful businessmen who play ball with the regime. Strict purity laws are designed to silence critics much more than apply moral codes. Something is missing from this story.
    • and most hardline Muslim countries. When the United States overthrew their governments in the 60s and 70s the only place to hide from their dictators was the Mosques because regular folk wouldn't allow the government to spy there (it's sacreligious), so that's where revolutions started, and as a result the governments are incredibly far right wing.
      • I wonder how you evaluate Israel, for their deeply religious government?

        • not that I'm a big fan of them given what they do to the Palestinians.

          In any case the only reasons Jews & Christians aren't doing the same thing as the Muslims is that they don't have the power to do so. It's not like we don't have the history of them doing the exact same thing as they fell out of power.

          Given the lack of miracles since the invention of the camera, journalism and the air plane, the constant disagreements on God and lack of much hard evidence beyond religious texts themselves, Rel
          • > In any case the only reasons Jews & Christians aren't doing the same thing as the Muslims

            How soon we forget. Do look up the Srebenica Massacre, the murder of approximately 8000 Muslim men and boys by the Bosnian Serb Army in 1995. Many thousands of the surviving women were raped. It's important for people to be aware that genocide and abuse are not unique any major faith.

            • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

              by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

              Are you seriously making a claim that Srebrenica massacre (at least get the name of the genocide right if you're going to pretend to be all righteously indignant about it) was a massacre driven by religion?

              In Hague, it was prosecuted and convictions secured for ethnic cleansing, not a religious one.

              • by rtb61 ( 674572 )

                Why not just accept the reality, religions are the excuse and not the reason. They wanted to kill a bunch of people and steal their stuff, ohh look, they are the other religion, they believe in demons not God, see according to our religion we are allowed to kill them and steal their stuff, approved by the religion. Now you go you idiot little believer cannon fodder and kill them, steal their stuff and give it all to me, otherwise I will kill you for looting what is now my stuff (as ruled the monarchs who ba

                • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

                  I have two questions I would like for you to think about carefully before you answer them.

                  1. Why is it that there were no cultures in humanity that weren't religious just century ago? And at the same time, we know from archaeological findings that essentially every culture Homo Sapiens ever had, and even some of the less successful members of Homo family left evidence of early proto-religions, typically of Shamanist or Animist variety?

                  2. Why is it that intertribal war is a norm for humanity in spite of the

                  • > 1. Why is it that there were no cultures in humanity that weren't religious just century ago?

                    There have been non-religious social groups documented since at least the time of Aristotle. They haven't been complete societies, but they exist as stable _groups_ within various societies and cultures. Have I somehow confused you with the idea that Christians, _also_, have a blood soaked history, even compared to modrn Muslim fanatics? I suspect it would be very difficult to separate proto-human ar pe-histor

                    • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

                      >There have been non-religious social groups documented since at least the time of Aristotle.

                      You're dodging the question. Were members of these groups religious? Just because social groups formed that weren't quite as religious as those surrounding them, their members still visited the temples. They still had faith in supernatural.

                      >Because the victors survive to educate their biological and cultural descendants. The losers, I'm sad to say, do not. "Carthage Delenda Est", and in the end, Troy fell.

                      We'r

                    • Roughly 500,000,000 million

                      That's a big number.

                    • 500,000,000 million is approximately 7% of the globe's nearly 8,000,000,000 people. Whether they are growing or shrinking depends on which survey you examine. It is perhaps fewer than the "1 in 10" claimed percentage of homosexuals in the world, but it's enough to be a politically significant part of most societies.

                      "Begging to differ" is merely courtesy, and I did offer evidence. It's not precisely the evidence you sought to contradict your point, You seem to be claiming that religion is superior in a "soci

                    • True, thank you for catching that. I of course meant 500,000,000.

                    • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

                      >Whether they are growing or shrinking depends on which survey you examine.

                      It's utterly self-evident at this point that it's shrinking. "Godlessness" as most of the world calls it is mostly purview of Western Atheism riding on the tale end of the Enlightenment. There are fundamental problems there we have no solution for:

                      1. Western people are not breeding to even sustainable levels any more. They are slowly selecting themselves out of the gene pool, voluntarily. The only exception are the religious ones.

                  • Religion is successful because of a strong arm.

                    When you convince people that only their way of life is right and everyone else is scum, they become emboldened.

                    Then comes the atrocities.

                    • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

                      That would be much of the modern religion, adapted for modern time.

                      This and your statement about language being a requirement for religion suggest extreme ignorance of early findings into Homo Sapiens and its precursors. Animism and Shamanism are the primary early religions, and they do not feature things you're talking about. Instead they're either animal worship or ancestor worship, functioning as effective tool to embed certain practices that evolution found to be viable into new species that is signific

                    • You can't even have complex concepts like religion without language. You can have them without writing, but that's not the same thing.

                    • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

                      That would be science denial, as we have archaelogical evidence of just that.

                      Go to your nearest university library and ask librarian for entry level literature into cave drawings and archaeology. They're almost universally Animist.

      • and most hardline Muslim countries. When the United States overthrew their governments in the 60s and 70s the only place to hide from their dictators was the Mosques because regular folk wouldn't allow the government to spy there (it's sacreligious), so that's where revolutions started, and as a result the governments are incredibly far right wing.

        You seem oblivious to how these countries were formed to begin with. Most of them didn't even exist prior to WWI, while the ones that did had very different borders. The sectarian violence comes from borders that were very arbitrarily drawn with zero consideration for the different people who lived within them. Why do you think Courdistan spans across 5 countries? That didn't happen all by itself.

        All of it was drawn for the financial benefit of two European countries who were still very much in imperial mod

        • by jbengt ( 874751 )

          The sectarian violence comes from borders that were very arbitrarily drawn with zero consideration for the different people who lived within them.

          Not true. Borders were drawn purposefully, usually to divide religious and ethnic groups up among several countries so that those groups could not unify against the conquerors and might instead spend time competing against those outside their group within the same country.

    • Laws are applied like this EVERYWHERE.

      Laws are always applied based on what the law enforcement and judicial officials decide. You only need to look at the court case against Assange in the UK for an example of law disproportionate application of the law. Assange has been kept in solitary confinement, denied access to his lawyers. The selectivity and harshness of the application of the law against Assange highlights how the rule of law in the UK, the US and other democratic countries can be similar to pl

      • As soon as somebody makes a declaration of universal moral equivalency, you know they're going to say some stupid bullshit like "I don't know why Courts consider it OK to punish somebody for jumping bail." Durrrr

    • by Luckyo ( 1726890 ) on Monday October 26, 2020 @10:12PM (#60652786)

      This is not a conviction by state's justice system, but by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. They're a parallel "state within a state" system in Iran where Iranian military is tasked with protections of the borders of the state, while IRGC is tasked with protection of the Islamic system in the nation. Their competencies include preventing foreign interference (hence them being primarily responsible for Iranian actions in Persian Gulf), prevention of coups by the military (which is why they are a "state within the state") and rooting out deviancy.

      This is a sentence passed on something they have competence on. Deviancy. Way sentence is handed out is not particularly unusual either. A typical time for deviancy that requires a death penalty, such as homosexuality usually takes hours from beating confession out of the perpetrator to conviction and hanging. Bribing IRGC judges is quite a bit harder than normal judges, because they tend to be selected based on ideological fervour.

      Materialist nonsense like "creating jobs" is irrelevant when matters of spirituality, such as deviancy are concerned. Spirituality obviously takes precedence over materialist whining.

      • by Somervillain ( 4719341 ) on Monday October 26, 2020 @10:50PM (#60652850)

        Materialist nonsense like "creating jobs" is irrelevant when matters of spirituality, such as deviancy are concerned. Spirituality obviously takes precedence over materialist whining.

        Growing up in America, I don't believe religious people are as religious as they say they are. I think it's a means of controlling the populace...Sharia Law for peasants and as much booze, cocaine, and hookers as one can consume for the ruling class. I don't believe the ruling class of any country is spiritual, but my perspective is limited by living in the US all my life. I guarantee you the leaders of the megachurches that wield so much power here live NOTHING like Christ.

        • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

          And yet, even back when population control was irrelevant, when we were still living in small familial tribes... religion was there. We know this from archaeological findings. We know that even some of the less successful members of Homo family had religious beliefs, because they left significant amount of evidence for it.

          My point is that religion has existed longer than humans have existed. It is an evolutionary adaptation. We the modern atheists are the massive exception, and judgement on whether we're a

          • by CaptainLugnuts ( 2594663 ) on Tuesday October 27, 2020 @02:38AM (#60653122)
            What a load of horseshit.

            Religion is what you get when humans were too ignorant to even understand the questions that living on a planet hurtling through space brings up.

            Why does the moon come from and why does it go through phases? Why are there seasons? Why does the ground shake sometimes? Why did my child get sick and die?

            Somebody, sometime made up a bullshit answer that sounded good and thousands of years later, here we are.

            • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

              >Religion is what you get when humans were too ignorant to even understand the questions that living on a planet hurtling through space brings up.

              So... today? Why do we exist? What is the purpose of life? Why do we act the way we act? What is out there? Why did my mom die from coronavirus, but neighbours mom is fine?

              It's a combination of peak hubris combined with peak ignorance to think that we have even began to tackle questions you yourself posit to be critical to existence of religion.

              • The difference is that we know enough about the universe to be fairly certain that the answers to the questions we all have left unanswered is not "invisible magic man in the sky who loves you but will not hesitate to torture you for eternity if you touched your sick"

                And unlike you, we don't have the hubris to pretend we have answers to the questions we actually don't have an answer to.

                • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

                  >The difference is that we know enough about the universe to be fairly certain that the answers to the questions we all have left unanswered is not "invisible magic man in the sky who loves you but will not hesitate to torture you for eternity if you touched your sick"

                  The part you're missing is that most religions didn't answer those questions that way. And when they did, there was usually an evolutionary reason to do so, because every major religion today went through over a thousand of years of evoluti

          • Religion did not exist before humans invented language, period. It literally could not be invented before then.

      • by Cederic ( 9623 )

        This is a sentence passed on something they have competence on. Deviancy.

        Not challenging your overall message at all, but I would rephrase that as 'Supposed Deviancy'.

        Personally I consider their religious beliefs to be highly deviant.

        A typical time for deviancy that requires a death penalty

        Again, no "deviancy" requires a death penalty. You're using their deviant language and it's wrong.

        • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

          The problem here is that for your opinion to be relevant, you must be in a relevant position of authority. Judge presiding over the case has relevant authority. You and I do not. I honestly feel like I'm explaining this to a five year old: "yes, these things that those people from a completely different culture that live in a completely different part of the planet, with completely different views on life look atrocious from our point of view". But that doesn't change their views in any way, and they're sti

          • by Cederic ( 9623 )

            The problem here is that for your opinion to be relevant, you must be in a relevant position of authority. Judge presiding over the case has relevant authority. You and I do not. I honestly feel like I'm explaining this to a five year old

            The irony is that you're talking like a five year old. "The Judge is a judge so he must be right and you can't challenge him."

            The judge is a fucking idiot and I refuse to accept his language, and too fucking right I'm calling you out for using it.

            You're assuming that me using their language is "wrong".

            No. I'm very definitely telling you that using their language is wrong.

            But in their view, you believing that core moral principles can even be changed by mere humans is wrong. Because

            ..that would allow their authority and privilege to be challenged, and/or call into question their pathetic superstitions.

            Both of which are necessary, which is explicitly why I do it.

            • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

              >The irony is that you're talking like a five year old. "The Judge is a judge so he must be right and you can't challenge him."

              And then you follow it with

              >The judge is a fucking idiot and I refuse to accept his language, and too fucking right I'm calling you out for using it.

              Do you understand that this is what a five year old throwing a temper tantrum generally looks like?

              • by Cederic ( 9623 )

                Yes, all five year olds talk like that.

                (I feel the need to now point out that was sarcasm, as I doubt your ability to recognise it.)

                • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

                  I understand that you think that you're being sarcastic. Which suggests that you're unable to recognise that you're having a temper tantrum on this issue.

                  And it's not that I can't understand why you're having it. I find judges views at least as abhorrent as you do, if not more. I just don't find it constructive to go "fuck him, he's wrong, I'm right, because my morals are right and his are wrong!" There's nothing in this line of inquiry that is worth exploring.

                  • Most Iranians have western values and hate the mullahs. Certainly when I was there back in 1987.

                    For example, in Pakistan you see ghost ladies (full purdahs), In Iran you see tight jeans and make up under an imposed head covering. And many women in powerful positions.

                    There are two governments. A liberal elected one and the Mullahs.

                    But the mullahs have a powerful minority and that minority has the guns. So you get these conflicting versions of the country. The mullahs can be vert nasty, and have become

                    • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

                      >Most Iranians have western values and hate the mullahs. Certainly when I was there back in 1987.

                      Let me guess. You visited one of the largest cities, never went to the living areas for locals and think that you've seen Iranians?

                      What you've seen is the small Westernised elite that is almost universally derided in Iran. The women with that head covering stuck to the back of her head? They're called "Western dolls" among Iranian mainstream. It's a slur.

                    • Nope. Came in via Pakistan, Zahedan. Then Shiraz, Isfahen, Teran and out via Tabriz. I did not go to the North East (Mashed) which is where the most conservatives are.

                      So I suspect I saw a lot more of it than you did. (Have you even been there?)

                      One little anecdote is when visiting the mirrored mosque in Shiraz, an official did not like the extent of my girlfriend's scarf. A gaggle of women surrounded them, pushed the official out of the way and bundled my friend inside.

                    • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

                      No, I haven't been through the southern part of the nation. I would be risking my life going there.

                      As for your anecdote, this is normal across more conservative Islamic world. Women have to group up and resist officials because when "they don't like her scarf", it often means "they will want to check her virginity" and well, turns out she doesn't have it any more on the exit side.

                      This is of course a familial thing among the Western minded elite. Mainstream, they'll publicly announce the Westernised slut was

  • Denying we are members of the animal kingdom for 3 millennia.

    Let's have more fun and less mental in our isms.
  • Talk about America Trump Fatigue.. Australia could provide 100% solar to a whole world.. Czech Republic could make a 100 percent renewable source of never ending protein gobstoppers.. and half the comments would be about fracking and trump eating KFC. Man I canâ(TM)t wait to this election is over.
    • I said that in 2016 and here we are. The only time there was some quite was when Obama was in office. He would drone kill thousands and there wouldn't be a peep. Now China kills Uighurs and there is constant noise about the USA betraying its old ally.

      Here is my guess. Binden might win. In a year he will be replaced by Kamala. And then for next 3 years there will be constant chatter on how bad or good she is doing as the first president without a vagina. Of course, rest of the world can go fuck itself.

  • children were asked whether they know how they were born,

    The story quotes "Iranian Media" .. what was the actual content of the video? The state media description seems somewhat innocuous. Something else would have to be included in the material to offend the Iranian government this much.

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