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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Aisha Down

An ecosystem of smuggled tech holds Iran’s last link to the outside world

A man (face hidden) lying on a sofa looking at his mobile phone
An Iranian young man using a VPN on his smartphone. Photograph: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock

For most of Iran, the internet was shut off on Thursday afternoon – the most severe blackout the country has seen in years of internet shutdowns, coming after days of escalating anti-government protests.

For a very small sliver of the country, it is still possible to get photos and videos to the outside world, and even to make calls. The Telegram channel Vahid Online on Monday posted photos of dead bodies lying next to a street in Kahrizak, on the southern outskirts of Tehran; on Sunday, it shared a video of Iranians chanting “death to Khamenei” at a funeral.

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