On September 20, 2025, Shargh newspaper published an exclusive report revealing that “certain institutions” in Iran had begun disconnecting and blocking the SIM cards of a number of activists, journalists, and political figures as a form of “punishment for online activity.” One year after that report’s publication, findings by IranWire indicate that security agencies and the Judiciary continue to enforce this so-called “punitive measure” against dissidents, critics, and particularly women.
Furthermore, reports indicate that SIM card blockages were previously used against citizens in prior years, leaving individuals whose lines were cut facing ongoing disenfranchisement across multiple areas of their daily lives.
“I was just a simple everyday writer on X. I didn’t post about politics, nor did I have a photo or name that could identify me. I mostly complained about my personal life, its ups and downs, and occasionally grumbled about high prices, inflation, and how the country was being run. So when I got a call from ‘above,’ I couldn’t believe it.”
This is part of the account shared by “Soudabeh,” a young mother of a 10-year-old child who says she has been documenting her journey through motherhood on her X account for the past decade. As a woman opposed to the mandatory hijab, she was forced by a security agency last year to “cleanse” her account: “They called and told me I had to come to their office. When I arrived, they placed several printed pages of my X posts in front of me and said, ‘These must be deleted.’ No matter how much I protested, asking how I could possibly find a post I wrote seven years ago, they wouldn’t listen. They said, ‘Either you delete them, or you delete the account.’ Even though I did what they demanded, my SIM card was blocked three days later without any prior notice.”
