By Simon Orwell
Iran's government has started suppressing the media and opposition as Tehran stepped up its filtering of Internet content. Reports coming from Iran said that the internet speed in the country has slowed down dramatically after the security forces quashed down protesters on Sunday.
The Iranian government led by conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has always tried to keep a strong control on news reports inside the Islamic Republic and the regime also closely monitors the information going out of the country. But the protests last week have prompted the government to introduce tighter measures in order to suppress mass protests against the hardliner president.
Some unconfirmed reports of anti-government gatherings hit the internet today and witnesses claimed that the protests were quickly broken up by a massive security presence. Hundreds of security officials and members of the dreaded pro-government basij militia were reported to be patrolling the streets.
The daughter of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was detained on Sunday for voicing against the government but she was later released. Rafsanjani openly supports the pro-democracy movement in the country. Faezeh was chanting anti-government slogans on the streets of central Tehran when she was detained by the security officials, according to Iran's state-controlled IRNA news agency.
State media are the only sources of information in Iran and they reported that there were no significant demonstrations on Sunday. Opposition websites had asked the people to join protests on Sunday. The protests began on February 14 which led to clashes between the government foes and supporters.
