Iran’s parliament has passed a law banning the use of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet and provides for severe penalties for violations. Any use of Starlink equipment or other systems that have not been internally certified is prohibited. According to the law, violations are punishable not only by fines and up to two years in prison, but also by corporal punishment in the form of whipping, informs ISNA.
The number of Starlink users in Iran has increased dramatically since the beginning of the year. People bought terminals illegally at inflated prices en masse in order to bypass state censorship. Over the past two years, the number of users has reached 30,000. A single Starlink terminal costs more than $2,000 on the black market, roughly 20 times the national average wage, putting the technology out of reach for most of the population.
During the 12-day war with Israel in June, Iran almost completely shut down the Internet across the entire territory, according to Netblocks. On June 15, Elon Musk announced on social networks that a Starlink signal had been activated over Iran.
In addition, Iran’s parliament passed a law that increases penalties for espionage and cooperation with foreign entities. From now on, such activity can be punished even with the death penalty. Both laws still need to be approved by the Guardian Council of the Constitution, but in practice this procedure is mostly a formality.
