Iranian authorities have banned the internet in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, due to the protests taking place in cities after a security incident near the border with Pakistan.
“The Iranian government, as of last Wednesday, canceled access to the Internet via mobile phones in the province,” this is what the media and human rights organizations said.
It also pointed out that this measure deprives 96% of the local population of the opportunity to access the global network.
Angry demonstrations continued in Iran, against the background of the killing of 10 people working in the field of fuel transportation by the bullets of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, in the province of Balochistan, as the families of the victims and residents of the border city organized a protest and seized a government building in Sarawan and set fire to government cars.
“Eliminating the Internet is one of the traditional methods used by the Iranian authorities in dealing with demonstrations,” this is what was quoted by the Associated Press, according to Amir Rashidi, an employee of the Miaan Group, a human rights organization specializing in digital security in the Middle East.
“that’s allows the government to conceal from public opinion incidents of the use of violence and force against protesters” Rashidi added.
NetBlocks, the organization which is concerned with monitoring access to the Internet around the world, indicated that it monitored disturbances in the activities of the regional Internet that lasted four days against the background of the demonstrations in the province, stressing that “a new round of disruptions in Internet access began as of late Saturday.”
It is noteworthy that the governor of Zahedan province, Abu Dhar Mahdi Nakhie, confirmed to the semi-official ISNA news agency, that a policeman was killed during the storming of crowds of protesters armed with light weapons and hand grenades last Tuesday at the Korin police station near the Pakistan border.
Last Wednesday, the protesters’ anger reached the limits of burning photos of Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Iranian Revolution, during the demonstrations, in addition to storming official headquarters in the city, at a time when local sources revealed that the Iranian authorities and border guards had previously tolerated the smuggling of fuel through The border towards the Pakistani side of the border
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