TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – The Iranian judiciary released the country’s telecommunications minister on bail on Wednesday after he was summoned to be prosecuted by Iran’s attorney general, state television reported.
State media quoted Jamal Hadian, a spokesman for the telecommunications ministry, as saying that Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi appeared before a prosecutor on Wednesday, was released and had already returned to his office.
The attorney general’s office has summoned Jahromi to prosecution for his refusal to block Instagram and other foreign social media messaging systems, according to previous reports. It was not clear how much bail money Jahromi posted or when he would have to appear again.
The move was seen as part of the push-push between the hardliners and President Hassan Rouhani’s moderate administration ahead of the June presidential elections.
Jahromi, Iran’s minister of information and communication technology, is a possible candidate in the election. He worked for the Ministry of Intelligence before taking his current position.
The Iranian government has long blocked access to many social media sites and platforms, from YouTube and Facebook to Twitter and Telegram. But many Iranians, especially young people, access them through VPNs and proxies. Instagram and WhatsApp have been unlocked again.
The Tehran province prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday that the charges against Jahromi were pending, but declined to give details, saying an investigation was underway.
The statement adds that, in the past two years, there have been no new court orders to filter or block social networks.
Many hardliners see the country waging a cultural “soft war” against Westernization.