Two weeks after his sensational victory Iran's president-elect, Hassan Rouhani, has expressed relatively progressive views about civil liberties, freedom of expression and the internet. 
 
 Social networking sites such as Facebook were, he said, a welcome phenomenon. 
 
 In his most outspoken interview in the Iranian media, Rouhani told Chelcheragh – a popular youth magazine – that he is opposed to segregation of sexes in society, would work to minimise censorship and believes internet filtering is futile. 
 
 "In the age of digital revolution, one cannot live or govern in a quarantine," he said as he made clear he is opposed to the authorities' harsh crackdown on Iranians owning satellite dishes, which millions have installed on rooftops for access to foreign-based TV channels illegal in the country. 
 
 Rouhani, who has promised to put the Islamic republic back on the path of moderation after eight acrimonious years under the outgoing president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, warned that citizens' rights had been neglected. 
 
 He said he stood in the June presidential election as a candidate critical of the current situation and also because he felt the country was at peril. 
 
 "Today the republican [nature] of our country is overshadowed by a specific interpretation of its Islamic [character]," he said. 
 
 Rouhani's reference to the republican character of Iran's ruling system is a hint that the Islamic republic's legitimacy is meant to come from the popular vote. Rouhani is scheduled to be sworn into office in early August. 
 
 "Some of the principles of our constitution have been emphasised while others were neglected and this is why we are facing an imbalance as a result," he said. 
 
 "The freedom and rights of people have been ignored but those of the rulers have been emphasised … Restricting [people's right] to criticise will only stifle and lead to inefficiency." 
 
 Of internet filtering, Rouhani said some of the measures taken by the authorities to restrict users' access online was not done in good faith and was instead politically motivated. 
 
 "There are political reasons. They have fears of the freedom people have in online atmosphere, this is why they seek to restrict information. But filtering is incapable of producing any [useful] results," he said. 
 
 "Supporters of internet filtering should explain whether they've successfully restricted access to information? Which important piece of news has filtering been able to black out in recent years?" 
 
 He added: "Filtering has not even stopped people from accessing unethical [a reference to pornographic] websites. Widespread online filtering will only increase distrust between people and the state." 
 
 Access to hundreds of thousands of websites is blocked in Iran, including Facebook and Twitter, but millions of Iranians use them via anti-filtering software or virtual private network (VPN) services. 
 
 Despite the filtering, Rouhani's campaign was active on both sites at election time. 
 
 "The virtual space is a tool and it can be an opportunity or a threat," said Rouhani. 
 
 "I remember that [former president] Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani once called social networking websites such as Facebook a welcome phenomenon. Indeed they are." 
 
 Since Rouhani's win, web users in Iran have reported a relative easing of online censorship and say revoked access to VPN accounts has been restored. 
 
 Rouhani also pledged to minimise censorship of artistic and cultural works and said the state – instead of interfering in the affairs of artists and cultural figures – should provide them with security. 
 
 "We should not tighten the red lines all the time, we should show that censorship is not our goal," he said. 
 
 On the question of women wearing the hijab, a contentious issue in a country with millions unhappy about the mandatory religious code, the president-elect said he was against the crackdown against women with loose clothing – but he stopped short of saying it should be left as voluntary. 
 
 Each summer, as the heat bears down and makes it difficult for women and men in Iran to stick to their forced Islamic dress code, the religious police go out on to the streets to watch out for loose hijabs, inappropriate dress or hairstyles. 
 
 "I'm certainly against these actions," said Rouhani, saying a women without a hijab is not necessarily without virtue. 
 
 "If a women or a man does not comply with our rules for clothing, his or her virtue should not come under question … In my view, many women in our society who do not respect our hijab laws are virtuous. Our emphasis should be on the virtue." 
 
 In his interview, Rouhani said he opposed segregation of men and women, including at universities, and criticised the politicians who are against allowing women to enter stadiums to watch football matches along with men. 
 
 Iran's state television, IRIB, the mouthpiece of the country's ruling system, also came under attack from Rouhani. 
 
 "A large population of our youth are ignoring the [state] television because in it they haven't seen the honesty, morality, justice that it merits," he said. 
 
 "When the state TV shows a programme about the birth of a panda in a Chinese zoo but doesn't broadcast anything about workers staging a protest because they haven't been paid for six months … it's obvious that people and the youth will ignore it. The solution is to have freedom of expression. 
 
 "If a day comes that our television shows more news coverage than foreign networks such as BBC, then people will reconcile with it." 
 
 Rouhani has previously criticised the IRIB. During his first post-election speech at the weekend, he said a country which receives its legitimacy from its people should not fear free media. 
 
 He also said: "Injustice is an injustice … it's a double standard to call an injustice in an unfriendly country as an injustice but to label the same thing in a friendly country as not … human rights is same in any place around the world." ||||| DUBAI (Reuters) - President-elect Hassan Rouhani called on Wednesday for the government and powerful clergy to end interference in the private lives of the Iranian people, free up Internet access and allow state media to be more open about Iran’s problems. 
 
 Iranian President-elect Hassan Rohani gestures to the media during a news conference in Tehran June 17, 2013. REUTERS/Fars News/Majid Hagdost 
 
 Rouhani’s comments began to flesh out his message of moderation at home and better relations abroad that contributed to his surprise election victory last month. 
 
 His election prompted a huge outpouring of support from Iranians hungry for change after eight years of domestic security crackdowns and international confrontation under hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. 
 
 “There shouldn’t be any rift or division between the government or the clergy especially at a time when people have pinned their hopes on seeing some sort of change in society,” Rouhani, a mid-ranking cleric, told fellow clergymen in Tehran. 
 
 “A strong government does not mean a government that interferes and intervenes in all affairs. It is not a government that limits the lives of people. This is not a strong government,” said Rouhani who takes office early next month. 
 
 “The power of the government lies in improving popular trust and...offering services, decreasing problems, setting the stage for further development of all citizens to help meet the needs of the people and desire for change,” he said in an address aired on state television. 
 
 Rouhani is bolstered by his popular mandate and the backing of an alliance of moderates and reformers led by former presidents Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami - both sidelined by hardliners under Ahmadinejad. 
 
 For now the divided hardline conservative camp has given Rouhani a relatively free ride, repeatedly emphasizing the high turnout in the election as a victory for the system rather than a defeat for themselves and the status quo. 
 
 But with a majority in parliament, strong links to the powerful Revolutionary Guards and a grip on the top jobs in state media and the security apparatus, the hardliners could confound Rouhani’s attempts to foster change, especially if they sense their positions are under direct threat. 
 
 LOOSEN MEDIA CONTROLS 
 
 During his election campaign, Rouhani demanded a loosening of the “security atmosphere” and on Wednesday signaled what steps he wanted to see taken. 
 
 Filtering of the Internet in Iran, stepped up after social media was used to encourage and coordinate large protests following the disputed 2009 presidential election, had proved ineffective, Rouhani said, fittingly, on Twitter. 
 
 “Which important piece of news has filtering been able to black out in recent years?” he asked. 
 
 At the same time, he criticized state broadcaster IRIB for ignoring issues inside Iran. 
 
 The state has a monopoly over terrestrial television in Iran and though satellite receivers are banned and foreign news broadcasts are often blocked, many Iranians tune in to U.S. and Europe-based channels beaming news and entertainment into the Islamic Republic. 
 
 “When IRIB airs the birth of a panda in China but nothing about unpaid workers protesting, it is obvious that the people and youth will ignore it,” Rouhani tweeted. 
 
 The key to whether Rouhani will be able to succeed in his vision of a more open society within the Islamic system will be whether he receives the backing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who sits at the top of Iran’s complex hybrid system of clerical rule combined and elements of elected representation. 
 
 A life-long insider in post-revolutionary Iran, Rouhani was for years Khamenei’s personal representative on the National Security Council, managing to maintain the trust of the leader even as other moderates fell out of favor and hardliners moved into the ascendant, especially in the early Ahmadinejad years. 
 
 But the next president will also have to temper the demands of a population that may want change faster than he can deliver. 
 
 Facing potential political opposition at home, an economy incapacitated by tough international sanctions over Iran’s nuclear dispute with the West, Rouhani has repeatedly urged patience. 
 
 “We have a lot of problems facing us. No government in the history of Iran has faced the problems that this government is facing,” Rouhani told the meeting of clerics. “The problems cannot be solved in a matter of days or months.”
– Iran's President-elect Hassan Rouhani has begun delivering his message of moderation, calling upon the country's leaders and clergy to stop meddling so much in the private affairs of its citizens. "A strong government does not mean a government that interferes and intervenes in all affairs. It is not a government that limits the lives of people," he said in an address on state TV, Reuters reports. Rouhani has criticized the country's Internet filtering, and chastised state broadcaster IRIB for ignoring important issues. "When IRIB airs the birth of a panda in China but nothing about unpaid workers protesting, it is obvious that the people and youth will ignore it," he reportedly tweeted. Rouhani has also spoken out against enforcement of the country's Islamic dress code, saying he doesn't support religious police cracking down on loose clothing and hairstyles—though he didn't go so far as to say the dress code should end, reports the Guardian. "If a woman or a man does not comply with our rules for clothing, his or her virtue should not come under question," he told a magazine. "In my view, many women in our society who do not respect our hijab laws are virtuous. Our emphasis should be on the virtue." He also says he opposes the segregation of men and women, criticizing politicians who want to ban women from entering soccer stadiums alongside men.