Iran’s Internet Shutdown Extends to 5th Day, Further Harming Economy
Iran’s Internet Shutdown Extends to 5th Day, Further Harming Economy by Michael Lipin – Voice of America
Iran’s shutdown of domestic Internet access as part of a crackdown on anti-government protests has stretched beyond four days, an unprecedented outage that has caused growing harm to the economy.
London-based Internet monitoring group NetBlocks posted a tweet early Thursday in Iran, saying the “near-total” Internet shutdown had surpassed 100 hours since it began late Saturday.
“Digital rights are human rights: access must be restored to all Iranians,” the group added.
Iranian authorities imposed the shutdown to stop opposition activists from communicating and posting online images of nationwide protests that erupted last Friday in response to the government’s abrupt 50% increase in the subsidized price of gasoline. The protests had spread to more than 50 urban centers in Iran by Saturday, according to images received from Iran and verified by VOA Persian…
