Mobile Internet disruptions seen in Iran amid water protests

Activist groups abroad have described Internet disruptions in the region in recent days as well. Since the country’s 2009 disputed presidential election and Green Movement protests, Iran has tightened its control over the Internet. — Photo by Rodion Kutsaev on Unsplash

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: Mobile phone Internet service in Iran is being disrupted a week into protests in the country’s southwest over water shortages, a monitoring group said Thursday, unrest that has seen at least three people killed.

Internet-access advocacy group NetBlocks.org attributed part of the disruption to “state information controls or targeted Internet shutdowns”. It identified the outages as beginning July 15, when the protests began in Khuzestan amid a drought affecting the oil-rich region neighbouring Iraq.