Iran has promoted a new system encouraging citizens to report information about Iranians living abroad, effectively crowdsourcing surveillance of the diaspora through a website and messaging platforms including Telegram, according to Iranian media reports and an Iranian official source who confirmed the program to Fox News Digital. The platform, known as Alaj — Persian for "remedy" or "cure" — asks users to provide information on people overseas whom it accuses of acting against Iran’s national interests or security. Iran International reported that tips could be submitted through the Alaj website, a Telegram bot and Iran’s Bale messaging service.
The outlet reported that Iranian state television and the Revolutionary Guard-affiliated Fars News Agency also promoted the initiative. An Iranian official source confirmed to Fox News Digital that Alaj and the Telegram chatbot were established as a new system through which certain individuals could report information about Iranians living abroad. The source said the website was subsequently taken down after the project drew significant criticism inside Iran.
IRAN ALLEGEDLY USED SOCCER CLUBS TO SPY ON CITIZENS, OPPOSITION GROUP URGES FIFA BAN REGIME BEFORE WORLD CUP The website did go offline shortly after its public rollout, although the reason for its suspension remains disputed. Iran International reported that Alaj claimed to have identified and monitored 1,600 people, including roughly 600 identified through reports submitted by members of the public. Those numbers have not been independently verified.
The platform published names and photographs of Iranians abroad and, in some cases, national identification numbers, dates of birth and fathers’ names, according to the outlet. For Iranian-American journalist and foreign policy analyst Lisa Daftari, the most consequential element is not simply that Tehran is collecting information, but that it is asking Iranians to report on one another. "Even if it's just the perception that other Iranians can report you or can get you in trouble or that this app exists, it makes a lot of people fearful," Daftari told Fox News Digital.
"You'll think twice before going to that next protest." 'KEEP A LOW PROFILE': STATE DEPARTMENT WARNS AMERICANS OVERSEAS THEY COULD BE TARGETED Daftari said the fear is particularly acute for members of the Iranian diaspora who still have relatives inside the country. "Now your face could be captured, you can get in trouble," she said. "If you have family in Iran, they can get into trouble." Daftari described the approach as a digital extension of a much older system of control, arguing that Iran’s clerical establishment has spent decades creating uncertainty over whether neighbors, colleagues or acquaintances might report one another to authorities.
"Now the regime wants to take this show on the road and do that here, here in the West," Daftari said. "They want to intimidate people. And it works." SECRET SERVICE AWARE OF IRANIAN VIDEO THREAT TARGETING BARRON TRUMP, AGENCY SAYS Daftari said she has experienced that intimidation personally for years.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
