Recently, the court of appeals upheld a 3 month prison sentence against Ashkan Armandehi, CEO of the e-commerce platform Divar, on a charge of “promotion of impurity and indecency”.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, the website management team responded that the advertisements invoked in the case do not contain any unlawful content. They maintain that the conviction is based on third party acts that took place outside of the online platform.

The statement goes on to highlight potential damages that this verdict would cause to the many businesses that use Divar to facilitate online sales, as well as the potential implications for similar e-commerce platforms.