Intensification of protests against Mehsa Amini's death, Internet service shut down in Iran

 Protests erupted in Iran after the death of Mehsa Amini in police custody, while internet services have also been almost suspended and access to the country's two Western social media platforms, Instagram and WhatsApp, has been affected.

The AP news agency, citing the statement of a senior Iranian official, said that he had indicated to take such measures for "security reasons".

Lack of communication channels will make it difficult for people to organize protests and provide information regarding the government's crackdown on dissenters.

After a 22-year-old woman was arrested by the police for not wearing the hijab properly and then killed while in custody, there are fierce protests in Iran, in which there have been fierce clashes between the protesters and the police in several places. Amnesty International says that the protesters were baton-charged and tear gas was used, while eight people have been killed during the clashes, in which four have been targeted by the forces, while hundreds have been injured.

Iranian officials, on the other hand, say there have been only three deaths and blame it on an unknown armed group.

An eyewitness in Iran, who asked not to be identified, told the AP that he has had no access to the Internet on his mobile phone since Wednesday evening.

 Internet company director Doug Midori has said that "We are seeing internet service and mobile data being blocked in Iran."

He further said that 'this appears to be a government initiative in line with the current situation, I confirm that internet access has been stopped on all mobile phones.'

NetBlocks, a London-based internet services monitoring company, had earlier reported that the networks of Instagram and WhatsApp were affected.

Similarly, Facebook's parent company Metta, which owns both platforms, says it is aware that users in Iran have been blocked from accessing the internet.

"We hope that users' right to come online will be restored soon."

Earlier on Wednesday, Iran's Telecommunications Minister Isra Zaripour said through state media that some restrictions may be imposed for "security reasons," but did not elaborate on their nature. Who was

Facebook, Telegram, Twitter and YouTube are already blocked in Iran, although senior Iranian officials maintain 'public accounts' on these platforms, while large numbers of Iranian citizens also access them through VPNs and other proxies.

Similarly, many government websites, including those of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, the president and the central bank, were immediately shut down following what hackers claimed were cyber attacks on state institutions.