Tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Monday that the website Facebook should be unblocked. Facebook, one of the most popular websites in Iran, was surprisingly unblocked earlier this year by the Iranian judiciary. Since then, the number of Facebook members inside Iran has increased dramatically, reportedly to 150,000.
The website was blocked again last Saturday. Labour news agency ILNA, which supports moderate Mir-Hossein Moussavi in the June 12 presidential election, denounced the action as a political move by Ahmadinejad's government against Moussavi, considered to be a strong contender to Ahmadinejad.
"I personally believe in a maximum of freedom and believe that we do not really have to block such sites," Ahmadinejad said in a press conference in Tehran while rejecting charges that his government had blocked the site.
"I will make necessary inquiries with the judiciary and hope to unblock this site," said Ahmadinejad, who also has used Facebook for gaining support of the Iranian youth.
Earlier Monday, an opposition candidate said Facebook has not been blocked for political reasons, but for questions of morality.
"As far as I know, the blocking of this website was due to morality problems. But, during this pre-election period, many issues are interpreted as political," opposition candidate Mehdi Karroubi said in a news briefing in Tehran.
Besides pornographic and erotic websites, political and social networking sites, such as Orkut and Facebook, are filtered in Iran, as the country's clergy consider these sites to be part of a "Western cultural invasion" aimed at deviating the Iranian youth from spirituality and decency.
"Blockings and filtering of websites are not linked to the government, but to the judiciary and a special committee there in charge of fighting moral abuse in internet," an internet provider in Tehran said.
"Also, Ahmadinejad is harmed by the recent blocking of Facebook because also his supporters had started a widespread campaign on that Facebook, even more than Moussavi and (presidential candidate Mehdi) Karroubi," the internet provider said.
Right after blocking Facebook, Iranian internet users distributed proxies to break the state-imposed filter of the website and make Facebook available again.
Karroubi said that, especially during the pre-election days when international attention is focused on the Islamic republic, Iranian officials should show more tolerance.
"During these sensitive days, many issues could be politicized and eventually harm the country," the moderate cleric said.
Iranians under the age of 25 comprise more than half of the 46.2 million eligible voters. Therefore all four candidates - Ahmadinejad, Karroubi, Moussavi and Mohsen Rezaei - are trying to attract them in their election campaigns.
According to official figures released by the communication ministry, the number of internet users in Iran has increased to 23 million out of a total population 70 million Iranians.
