Pirate Parties International Demands Immediate Restoration of Internet Access in Iran and International Solidarity with the Iranian People

Pirate Parties International condemns the nationwide internet shutdown that has been in effect in Iran since January 8, 2026. This measure is a flagrant violation of international human rights and serves to conceal crimes against humanity.

Since December 28, 2025, hundreds of thousands of Iranians have been protesting against economic crisis and political oppression. The Iranian regime responds with mass violence and total digital blockade:

• Scores of protesters and civilians, including children, killed
• Civilians are arbitrarily arrested
• Media reporting and human rights documentation made impossible
• Security forces intensify oppression under cover of digital darkness

The internet shutdown violates fundamental human rights:

• Right to freedom of expression (Article 19 ICCPR)
• Right to access to information
• Right to document human rights violations
• Enables crimes against humanity

The UN Human Rights Council has explicitly determined: blanket network shutdowns are never lawful and always constitute violations of human rights.

Iran has operated one of the world’s most repressive internet censorship systems for years:

• 2019: Six-day internet shutdown during fuel protests
• 2022: Massive throttling during Mahsa Amini protests
• Permanent blocking of YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, WhatsApp
• Systematic criminalization of VPNs and encryption

The current total shutdown continues this pattern.

DEMANDS OF PIRATE PARTIES INTERNATIONAL

1. Immediate restoration of internet access by the Iranian regime
2. End violence against protesters and release of all arbitrarily detained persons
3. International sanctions:
   • Add IRGC to terrorist organization lists
   • Comprehensive sanctions against regime officials
   • Invoke UN Security Council
4. Technological support for Iranian civil society:
   • Decentralized and secure communication tools
   • Open-source censorship circumvention tools
   • Starlink and similar technologies
5. Long-term digital sovereignty:
   • Build alternative infrastructure
   • Develop open-source ecosystems
   • Implement decentralized network technologies

STATEMENT

Schoresch Davoodi, Board Member of Pirate Parties International and European Affairs Officer of the Pirate Party Germany:

“Iran has been using its technical arsenal for digital oppression for decades – White SIM cards for regime loyalists, criminalization of VPNs, billions invested in surveillance. The current total internet shutdown is not new, but rather the escalation of a decades-old strategy. When the people speak too loudly, the regime shuts down the internet.

Iran needs not less democracy and less freedom – it needs MORE. The Iranian freedom movement deserves our full solidarity and the tools of digital freedom: decentralized networks, open-source tools, and encryption without backdoors.”

ABOUT PIRATE PARTIES INTERNATIONAL

Pirate Parties International fights for data protection, digital freedom, transparency, and citizen rights in the digital age. It is a member-based international umbrella organization with official status at the United Nations (ECOSOC consultative status).