Iran slows internet in advance of protests
Iran is expecting large popular protests on their Student Day anniversary and has already taken steps well in front of the event to partially shut down the internet to avoid negative news coverage.
Student Day is the anniversary of the deaths of three students of University of Tehran on December 7, 1953 by Iranian police. The day is usually celebrated both by religious and secular student movements. Ahmad Ghandchi, Shariat-Razavi and Bozorg-Nia were killed when the police forces opened fire on the students of University of Tehran who had gone on strike in protest of U.S. President Richard Nixon’s visit to Iran following the coup d’état of 1953. The anniversary of these killings have often been marked by protests in Iran.
This year is not expected to be any different, with many sources inside Iran saying that students and other protestors will be taking to the streets to remember Student Day, according to a CNET story. The same groups that were opposed to the elections in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected are expected to once again take to the streets in protest of the 1953 student deaths and the Ahmadinejad government. The protests a few months ago were among the largest in the country’s turbulent history and there are signs that the upcoming Student Day protests will also be significant.
In advance of the expected protests, Iran’s technical services sources say that outside internet access has been cut back due to a “a decision by the authorities” and not a technical problem. Iranian telecommunications ministry officials were unavailable for comment, but decreasing internet availability has been a common response to dissident activities in recent years.
It is also likely that there will be localized outages in wireless services, as there were during the election protests, in order to keep cell phone video of the protests from reaching the outside world. Still, cutting internet access this far in advance of expected protests marks a step up in the government’s technical crackdown against dissident elements, showing a strong desire to keep any problems within the country under close wraps. Only time will tell how well the protesters can get around the technical limitations imposed by the government.
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