October 18-2013
Iran has arrested a man accused of opening fake Facebook accounts in the names of cabinet ministers, Judiciary spokesman Gholam-Hossain Mohseni-Ejai said Monday.
News reports in August said every minister had opened a Facebook account, despite the fact that Facebook is blocked in Iran. Mohseni-Ejai, however, said all but one of the ministers denied they had any social media accounts.
An investigation was launched and a man was arrested for having opened “these fake accounts, and he is now in prison,” the spokesman said.
The man’s identity was not given, nor was it explained how he managed to open the accounts as access to social media websites is blocked.
Foreign Minister Moham-mad-Javad Zarif is the only member of the cabinet to acknowledge having accounts on Facebook and Twitter.