Mobile phones, Facebook, YouTube cut in Iran

TEHRAN: The main mobile telephone system in Iran was cut in the capital Tehran Saturday evening while popular Internet websites Face book and You Tube also appeared to be infertile, correspondents said.The statement cuts came after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won a landslide re-election victory; sparking rioting in the streets by resistance supporters who claim the result had been rig.The mobile phone network stopped up working at 10:00 pm (1730 GMT), just before Ahmadinejad went on television to declare the selection a "great victory" and even as baton-wielding police were clashing with protestors in the streets of Tehran, according to witness.Iran has two national network run by state-owned MCI (Telecommunication Company of Iran) and the private firm Irancell.Several Iran-based users logging on via different Internet service providers, meanwhile, said they could reach neither Face book nor You Tube -- the two websites used effectively by young faction of Ahmadinejad's moderate rival Mir Hossein Mousavi.Mousavi complain bitterly on Saturday against "vote rigging" in the election, unleashing violent clashes between his group and anti-riot police.Scores of users started posting pictures and videos of the protest on both sites before long after they broke out in Tehran's streets.Iranian authorities banned the popular social networking website Face book on May 23 reportedly to prevent Mousavi supporters from using it for his presidential campaign prior to Friday's poll.Access was restored after a few days.About 60 percent of Iran's 70-million populations are under 30 years old and the country, which applies strict monitoring of cyber material, has some 20 million web users.Several pro-Mousavi news websites have also been blocked in the past two days including two popular ones, Aftab News and Shahab News, which are regarded as close to Iran's top adjudication body, the Expediency Council.The Council is headed by influential former president and Mousavi-backer, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was the subject of mudslinging in the presidential campaign after Ahmadinejad accused his sons of receiving monetary privileges in the past.

Related Posts by Categories

Widget by BFI Pakistan