Iran blocks candidates' Facebook pages

TEHRAN, May 24 (UPI) -- Officials in Iran have blocked access to Facebook in what opposition candidates said was an effort to thwart their challenges to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The Washington Post reported Sunday that Ahmadinejad's three political opponents have used the Internet site to spread their campaign messages.

Iranian Shiite cleric Mohammad Ali Abtahi said when he wanted to check the latest election discussions on Facebook, he found that the site had been blocked.

"The government wants to prevent all free discussions on the elections," said Abtahi, a former vice president and adviser to Mehdi Karroubi, one of the challengers.

Abtahi said he had more than 3,000 friends on the site.

"Those people used the site to discuss freely, something which unfortunately is not possible in our national media," he said.

The Iranian Labor News Agency, a news organization with ties to the government, reported the Masadiq Committee, made up of intelligence officials and others, ordered at least one of the candidates' sites to be blocked.