Tehran, Iran — Iran has banned the use of the popular social networking site Facebook since last weekend, in ahead of the June’s presidential elections, in an apparent attempt to muzzle the opposition reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, as opposition voters increasingly turn to online social sites to promote their candidates whose fan page has a whopping 5,000 members, Iran’s Ilna news agency and web users say.
“Blocking of social website is part of state’s crack-down on opposition, Iranians will be forced to depend on state-run media before the election.”
Blogs and related websites have become an important campaign tool for a prominent reformist candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, who is attempting to mobilise Iran’s critical youth vote before the June 12 ballot.
Facebook, expressed its disappointment over the reported ban, which claims it has 175m users around the globe.
So far there has been no comment from the Tehran authorities.
“Access to the Facebook site was banned several days ahead of the presidential elections,” Ilna reported.
It said that “according to certain Internet surfers, the site was blocked because supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi were using Facebook to better disseminate the candidate’s positions”.
Mohammed Ali Abtahi, a former vice president, said: “Facebook is one of the only independent sources that the Iranian youth could use to communicate with the world.”
Abtahi said the loss of Facebook — and possibly other web sites popular with reformists — will leave Iranians “to solely depend on government sources” such as state-run media before the election.
Mousavi was Iran’s prime minister when the post was abolished in 1989.
Reformist political leader Mir Hossein Mousavi — a former prime minister considered a danger to current hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — created a Facebook page for his campaign that has more than 5,000 supporters on the site.
Those attempting to visit Facebook received a message in Farsi saying, “Access to this site is not possible,” according to CNN personnel in Tehran.
Opponents of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad like Mir Hossein Mousavi are using technology to reach voters.
Iranian authorities often blocked access to online websites and blogs that they considered critical of the Islamic regime, but the timing of the latest suppression suggested it was done to hamper opponents of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“Every single media outlet that is seen as competition for Ahmadinejad is at risk of being closed,” said Shahab Tabatabaei, an aide to Mousavi.
“Placing limits on the competition is the top priority of the government.”
Tabatabaei said the move was “a swift reaction” to a major pro-Mousavi rally on Saturday at a Tehran sports stadium. The rally was attended by former reformist president Mohammad Khatami. Many young people waved green banners and scarves — the symbolic colour of the Mousavi campaign.
Ahmadinejad is in a four-way race for re-election with two pro-reform candidates and fellow conservative Mohsen Rezaei.
Ahmadinejad’s oppositions are increasingly turning to modern technology to spread their message, according to a May 13 article in the Financial Times newspaper.
Iran’s population — estimated at more than 66 million by July 2009, according to the CIA World Factbook — has a median age of 27. The Financial Times, which put the country’s population at 70 million, said 47 million Iranians have cell phones and 21 million have Internet access.
“We are employing modern technologies because they have the capacity to be multiplied by people themselves who can forward Bluetooth, e-mails and text messages and invite more supporters on Facebook,” Behzad Mortazavi, head of Mousavi’s campaign committee, told the Financial Times.
At a Mousavi rally at a stadium Saturday, the Facebook blockage was a topic of conversation among reporters. Many said they had accessed Facebook on Friday night and believe the site was blocked Saturday morning.
During the last presidential race in 2005, information about rallies and campaign updates were sent by text message. In recent years, political blogs by Iranians in the country and abroad have grown sharply.
His account (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Mir-Hossein-Mousavi-/45061919453) on Facebook in the name of Mousavi which claims more than 7,600 supporters, besides a number of other accounts that are mobilizing support for the candidate.
Iranian officials did not comment on the reported block.