Iran lifts Facebook block after cutting access for elections

Iran restored access to Facebook on Tuesday, after a block on the social networking Web site last week generated accusations that the government was trying to muzzle one of the main presidential campaign tools of the reformist opposition.

Facebook was cut off Saturday, depriving challengers to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of a critical means of reaching out for the youth vote in the June 12 election.

The main pro-reform candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, is seeking a strong turnout from young voters and has used Facebook to try to mobilize support.

Authorities have not directly commented on the Facebook outage, and the reason for its return Tuesday was not immediately clear.

It also was not known whether the renewed Facebook access is permanent. Iranian authorities have restored then re-imposed blocks on Web sites in the past.

Iranian authorities often block specific Web sites and blogs considered critical of the Islamic regime. Critics said the shutdown of Facebook forced Iranians to rely on the government for information, depriving txe election debate of important independent voices.

More than half of Iran's population was born after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and young voters make up a huge bloc - which helped former reformist President Mohammad Khatami to back-to-back victories in 1997 and 2001 but failed to rally strongly behind Ahmadinejad's opponent, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, four years ago.

Young voters are now strongly courted by Mousavi as the possible swing factor.

An aid to Mousavi said over the weekend that the Facebook block was a reaction to a major pro-Mousavi rally Saturday in a Tehran sports stadium that included an appearance by Khatami and many young people waving green banners and scarves - the symbolic color of the Mousavi campaign.