Iran's government blocking access to opposition and sex sites

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran is blocking access to Web sites containing pornographic material and opposition-driven dissent against the country's Islamic establishment, an official said Tuesday.

More than 140 Web sites promoting dissent, dancing and sex have been blocked since the crackdown began last month, said Farhad Sepahram, an official at the Telecommunications Ministry.

Religious hard-liners are increasingly concerned about Iranians' access to information from the outside world, a sign of worry such communications are playing a role in stirring pro-reform sentiment, such as the recent anti-government protests by young people.

Sepahram said most of the blocked Web sites belong to opposition groups. Among them is one run by Reza Pahlavi, son of the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was toppled by the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and one by Abolhassan Banisadr, Iran's first elected president after 1979 who now opposes the cleric-dominated establishment.

Also blocked are the Voice of America's Farsi-language service and radiofarda.com, a U.S.-financed, Farsi audio program.

The United States cut off diplomatic relations with Iran in 1979 after militant students stormed its embassy in Tehran.

Washington has also imposed trade sanctions on Iran, which it accuses of aiding terrorist groups.

Sepahram said his ministry also is blocking some pornographic sites run by Iranians from outside the country, but he conceded it is impossible to close access to all sex-related sites.

He said the list of sites to be blocked came from the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council, an unelected body controlled by hard-line clerics.

The council was set up by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the 1979 revolution. Reformist President Mohammad Khatami is the chairman, but most members are appointed by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Khomeini's successor, and conservatives outnumber reformists on the panel.

Khatami was elected on promises to loosen social and political life, but Khamenei's unelected establishment has hindered his efforts to deliver greater freedoms.

Hanif Mazrouei, a writer for a reformist Web site and the son of a leading reformist legislator, predicted the crackdown will fail.

"In the 1980s, the government banned videos. In recent years, it went on to impose restrictions on satellite dishes, but none worked," he said. "Blocking Web sites is more difficult to do. They can't deny a nation impatient for change from information they like to know."