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Iran blocks news website: French broadcaster

03 April 2010 03:36 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. News channel France 24 accused Iran on Friday of blocking its website to users there, the latest in a series of international broadcasters to complain of censorship by the Islamic Republic, APA reports quoting AFP.

"France 24 learned today from various sources that its website france24.com was no longer accessible from Iranian territory," the French rolling news station said in a statement, describing the move as "censorship".

Iranian authorities have cracked down on the media and arrested scores of journalists since anti-government protests erupted after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election last June.

The UN’s telecommunications agency last week called on Iran to stop jamming foreign radio and television broadcasts and EU foreign ministers vowed to act against Iran’s blocking of satellite broadcasts and Internet sites.

The BBC has accused the Islamic regime of jamming its Persian-language broadcasts and France has complained that radio and television stations transmitting to Iran via the Eutelsat satellite have been jammed.

France 24, which is publicly funded and broadcasts in French, English and Arabic, linked the latest blockage to its online coverage of the opposition movement.

"This censorship comes as all France 24’s editorial teams are following day by day the events surrounding the opposition movement... particularly with the help of (online) social networks and amateur pictures sent by the Internet."