A Gaze through the Veil:

The MCIG is the main power that has affected artists in Iran. An artist or academicwho wanted to publish or exhibit their work were forced to obtain permission. Theseworks were inspected by different bodies within the MCIG. This authorization couldtake weeks, months or years and after this wait, the work could be eventually denied.The direct censorship instruments at the states disposal areblunt and wide-ranging: these include highly repressive laws,supported by an array of regulations and guidelines thatdelineate and restrict what can be expressed, and how itshould be done, assisted by a multitude of censors-diverseinstitutions that will intervene at different stages of the artisticprocess by assenting to or denying the much neededauthorisation. (Middle East Watch, 1993)Combined with the authorities within the government, there are also non-stateorganisations that act out against free expression often with brutal force. In the eventthat the government has not intervened on work or writings where free expression isbeen exercised, or if these organisations think that the work offends Islam, thesevigilante groups intervene; their main objective is to protect society against corruptinginfluences. These groups force these restrictions by the use of force, threats, violenceand intimidation. There are two main vigilante groups at work within Iranian society;these are called the Basij and the Ansar-e Hezbollah. The Basij are paramilitaryforces, who according to human rights officials are the “organs of repression that havebecome increasingly open in crushing student protests, detaining activists, writers andjournalists in secret prisons.” (Ervand, 1999, p 124) The Ansar-e Hezbollah or ‘Partyof God’ is an ultraconservative Islamist group, whose objective is to maintain that therules of Islam are maintained within society. These groups are closely linked to theIranian government and mostly go unpunished for their actions. In 2002 an Iraniancleric spoke out against these groups stating that they are “louts and fascists, who area mixture of ignorance and madness, but whose umbilical cord is connected to thecentre of power”. (Callamard, 2006, p.8) Reading this statement these vigilantegroups are conducting censorships and punishments with force, which the governmentcannot enforce themselves without raising questions.