Access to Facebook restored in Iran

Tehran - Now Iranian’s can access Facebook, the popular social networking site. Iran’s judiciary restored access to Facebook on Tuesday. The popular social networking site was blocked Saturday. After the blocking of the social-networking website led to a heated debate in Iran’s presidential campaign.

facebook

According to news agency ILNA, the social networking site had been blocked after a decision “by a committee of representatives from the ministry of interior, intelligence, judiciary, parliament and some other ministries.” The news agency added that the decision was taken because “supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi were using Facebook to better disseminate the candidate’s positions.”

Mir Hossein Mousavi is considered as the main rival to conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who is seeking a second term in office in next month’s election. At an news conference on Monday, Ahmadinejad rejected the charges and promised to make inquiries with the judiciary for restoring access to the site.

Facebook is one of the most popular websites in Iran, where the number of its members has increased dramatically, reportedly to 150,000. According to figures from the communication ministry, the number of internet users has increased to 23 million out of a total population of 70 million Iranians.