Iranian President Hassan Rouhani locked horns with his powerful hard-line rivals by throwing his full weight behind young Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, who has been pushing fundamental internet development projects. 

Jahromi was summoned last week by a Tehran court for an investigation into a host of accusations, including his “failure to implement judicial orders on banning the social media platform, Instagram.” Jahromi was released only after committing himself to attending the next stages of the proceedings.

Addressing a Cabinet meeting in Tehran on Jan. 27, Rouhani fiercely criticized the judiciary over the case. “Nobody should be put to trial over expanding the internet bandwidth,” Rouhani said. He even challenged the judiciary by declaring that if there was anyone to be investigated, it would be the president, who issued the directive on the bandwidth improvement.

Rouhani did not detail the technical aspects of the project, but he praised his young minister for “the great job” that he said will help in such areas as customs controls, thus boosting the “fight against corruption.”