Iran launching 'closed' domestic internet network to 'police' users

The first phase of Iran's biggest communication project was launched on Sunday, which critics say will further restrict Iranians access to information from the outside world.

A launch ceremony of Iran's domestic internet network brought some big names from the Iranian government.

It will operate independently from all other networks in the world, but does have the ability to interact with outside networks with permission from gatekeepers.

The final phase of the project should be completed in March.

Iran has been working on the project since 2005 which it claims will "improve control over content as well as speed", according to Tasnim state news agency.

The government also claims it would stop cuts to internet access. Others aren't convinced believing it to be another attempt by the secretive state to control access to information for ordinary Iranians.

Critics warn that the regime could cut access to foreign sites and prevent users from sharing information - particularly critical - online.

More worryingly, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHR) said on Twitter that "users can be monitored" on the newly-launched national internet network.

Many Iranian activists and internet users have been arrested and charged over online content.

One of the most recent cases involved Najibeh Salehzadeh, the wife of prominent Iranian-Kurdish workers' rights' activist Mahmoud Salehi.

She was charged with posting material on Facebook "that were propaganda against the state and insulting to the supreme leader", she told ICHRI last week.

In another case, Soheil Arabi was imprisoned and sentenced to death for posting comments critical of the Islamic Republic on social media.

A source told ICHRI that although the death sentence against Soheil Arabi was later lifted, three separate courts have sentenced him to prison for his Facebook posts.

Police have also launched a wave of arrests on young Iranian women who have shared pictures of themselves not wearing the mandatary headscarves.