- Merlin Thomas
- BBC News
Last update 2 hours ago
The United States has announced that it will ease internet restrictions in Iran, in response to a crackdown on protests that erupted over Mahsa Amini’s death while in police custody.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said: “We will work to not keep the Iranian people isolated or absent.”
This will allow US technology companies to expand their business in Iran.
At least 35 people were killed in the worst protests in Iran in years.
The young woman, Mahsa Amini, 22, died after she was arrested by the morality police and fell into a coma last week.
According to reports, police officers hit her on the head with a stick and hit her head with one of their vehicles. But police said there was no evidence of any mistreatment and that Mahsa Amini had suffered a “sudden heart attack”.
Blinken said the partial easing of restrictions on the internet was a “concrete step to provide support to Iranians demanding that their basic rights be respected.”
He added that it was clear that the Iranian government was “afraid of its own people”.
The US Treasury said the move would help counter the Iranian government’s attempts to “surveil and impose censorship” on its own people.
But this is unlikely to have an immediate effect because it “does not remove every tool for suppressing communication”.
Billionaire Elon Musk said on Twitter that his satellite internet company, Starlink, would operate its services in Iran to provide internet services after Blinken’s announcement.
Starlink provides Internet via a huge network of satellites, targeting residents in remote areas who do not have access to fast Internet service.
The US Treasury said that allowing the restrictions to be eased does not include devices provided by Elon Musk, but his company and others are welcome to apply for permission from the department.
The NetBlocks Observatory reported that Iran is currently witnessing the most severe restrictions on the Internet since the anti-government protests in November 2019. Most mobile phone networks have been suspended, and Internet coverage has fluctuated during the protests, and restrictions have been placed on Instagram and the WhatsApp application.
Videos posted on social media on Friday showed large crowds of protesters gathering in a number of Tehran neighborhoods after dark. Similar gatherings were held in other parts of the country.
Women took off their headscarves during protests, burned them, or cut their hair in front of the crowd.
After spreading to most of Iran, many protests were concentrated in the west of the country, especially in areas with a Kurdish population, to which Mahsa Amini belongs.
On Friday, there were reports of widespread protests in western Iran, amid talk of demonstrators taking control of large parts of the Oshenvih region.
The BBC was unable to confirm the authenticity of this news.
Video clips from the area showed large crowds walking without the presence of police officers, while loud explosions were heard.
Friday also saw pro-regime demonstrations in Tehran and other cities, during which participants declared their support for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has been the target of criticism from anti-government protesters.
Speaking at an official event, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said he would not allow the country’s security to be “threatened”.
After returning from the United Nations General Assembly in New York, he stressed: “We will not allow people’s security to be endangered, whatever the circumstances.”
He stressed that Iran’s “enemies” want to exploit the unrest, noting that the government would listen to criticism over Amini’s death, but would not be affected by “riots.”