Speaking against hardliners is a crime
WEBSITES CLOSE to Iran's leading reformist party have been blocked by religious hardliners in the police bureau of public morals.
The sites, Rouydad (Happening), Emrouz (Today) and Bamdad (Dawn), all close to the Islamic Iran Participation Front, have been shut down since the weekend.
Apparently the ISPs had decided to block the sites after receiving threats even though the committee set up by the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution is not opposed to its existence.
The police bureau of public morals, which was set up to filter out pornographic websites and those politically hostile to the Islamic Republic, is believed to be behind the threats.
Several people working for Rouydad had received summonses by telephone and the Teheran authorities have shut down two reformist daily newspapers, Nassim Sabah, and Vaghayeh Etefaghieh, while a third, Jomhouriat, announced on Monday it was ceasing publication after its managing editor was summonsed.
The press freedom watchdog Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) expressed its "deep concern" at what it called "the measures taken by the Iranian authorities to limit access to internet sites".