Russia handed over a facial recognition system to Iran, which it used to persecute the opposition and journalists

Iranian authorities secretly acquired and deployed facial recognition software developed by the Russian company NtechLab, associated with the state corporation Rostec, according to a joint investigation by Forbidden Stories, Le Monde, Paper Trail Media, Der Spiegel and ZDF, with the participation of The Signals Network. In Russia, this technology has been used to spy on the opposition, including supporters of Alexei Navalny, and independent journalists.

Details. The editorial offices involved in the investigation received information about the Iranian surveillance system with facial recognition function from a data leak regarding Iran's cooperation with Russian companies.

• The technology, known as FindFace, was purchased from NtechLab in August 2019 by Rasadco, the investigation said. That same year, Rasadco was absorbed by a larger company, Kama. It was she who subsequently began selling NtechLab software to various Iranian structures. Its buyers include the Ministry of Intelligence and organizations associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
• Kama is run by a member of the IRGC, the investigation says.
• The list of Kama clients who entered into contracts with the company in 2020-2022 includes the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, the authorities of Mashhad, one of the largest cities in the country and an important center of the Shia world, as well as two structures that entered into very large contracts - for 4 billion rials (approximately 86 thousand euros at the June 2021 exchange rate) and 9 billion rials (approx. 180 thousand euros). The last two organizations are hidden by an acronym, which, according to journalists, may hide shell companies used by the regime to secretly conclude contracts.
• One of the contracts mentions the Samaneh Gostar Amin fund, which is directly linked to the Zaeem Technology Development Company. This large Iranian technology company has previously been named as a supplier to the IRGC and other government agencies.
• The Iranian system allows you to sort people in videos based on external characteristics - from the color of their clothes to the emotions on their faces. The system can also collect data from social networks. “They analyze everything: text messages, phone calls, emails. Every form of communication is recorded,” said a source familiar with the system.
• Facial recognition complements the Iranian regime's already extensive repressive arsenal - informants, drones, traditional CCTV, internet filtering. “The regime has created a surveillance machine from which no one can hide - neither young nor old, neither man nor woman,” the source told reporters.
• The system, in particular, is used to force women to wear the hijab compulsorily. Informants take photographs of women sitting, for example, in cars without a hijab, and send the pictures through a special application. Next, authorities use the geodata of the images and verify them using mobile base stations. At the same time, security forces are establishing the identities of the women. After this, an SMS message is sent notifying you of the violation of the law and warning that in the event of a repeat incident, the car will be confiscated. Sometimes the message is also sent to women's fathers - to increase the pressure.

Context. NtechLab is one of the flagships of the Russian technology and surveillance systems industry, founded in 2015, and is located in the orbit of Rostec. FindFace facial recognition software is the company's key product. The system was used during the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia and was then rolled out across Russian regions.

• Since 2023, NtechLab has been sanctioned by the EU for “facilitating serious human rights abuses in Russia using high technology to facilitate surveillance of independent journalists, Navalny supporters and opponents of the war in Ukraine. For the same reasons, the company is included in the US sanctions lists.