Twitter suspends Iran news agencies

Twitter has suspended several Iranian news accounts over alleged harassment of people who follow the Baha’i faith. Young Journalists Club (YJC), run by state broadcaster IRIB, state-run IRNA, and Mehr were among the Farsi-language accounts suspended.

Some agencies, including Fars agency and English-language Press TV, remained active on the site. The affected agencies speculated that the suspensions were linked to their coverage of tensions in the region. In particular, they believed they were being penalised for their reporting of Iran’s seizure of a British-flagged tanker in the Gulf on Friday.

A Twitter source confirmed to several news outlets, including the BBC, that the accounts were suspended for co-ordinated and targeted harassment of people associated with Baha’i, a minority faith in Iran.