Ms Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union

Stop restricting Starlink in Iran

Dear Ms Bogdan-Martin,

In May 2023, the regime in Iran made a submission to the ITU Radio Regulation Board, requesting the compliance of Starlink satellite services in the territory of Iran with the regime’s draconian licensing requirements. This is not surprising, coming from a regime that has taken all forms of communications and media hostage for decades. Ban on video cassettes, ban on satellite receivers, random raids on homes to destroy electronics, and ranking third least free Internet access in the world, are different manifestations of an old habit that applies to every new technology.

RR Board meeting summary of 4 July 2023 indicates that the ITU has written to the governments of Norway and US, asking them strongly to pressure Starlink to bring its services to any IP address inside Iran under the same umbrella of regulations as the rest of the Internet, enabling the regime both to control the content and to trace the users.

The Starlink service was activated in Iran only in response to the regime's repeated and arbitrary shutdowns of the terrestrial Internet traffic, especially during times of violent crackdown on popular protests. Subscriptions are paid for by ordinary members of the Iranian diaspora. Devices are there only thanks to the brave people who host them at great risk to their lives. Starlink reassures that we will continue to see and hear what Iran endures, that the UN Human Rights Fact-Finding Mission will continue to receive evidence of the crimes of the regime, free from the watchful eyes of the criminal. 

The ITU’s vision is “to connect the world” and its ethical principle is to support everyone’s right to communicate. Any measure adopted by the ITU that directly or indirectly helps the regime to censor information, obscure justice or harm people, makes the ITU complicit in these crimes. Hiding behind technicalities and regulations reserved for normal-behaving members of the international community does not absolve the ITU of this complicity. 

We urge you and the ITU to:

1. Immediately and permanently stop all efforts to impose any new restriction to Starlink services in Iran.
2. End all forms of partnership with the regime in restricting, filtering and intercepting people’s communications.
3. In line with the ITU vision statement and Article 19 of the UDHR, use all tools and methods at your disposal to help the people of Iran stay safely connected to the Internet and other means of communications available to free nations.

Sincerely,