Iran FM’s Facebook page hacked

The News Sunday, September 15, 2013 From Print Edition TEHRAN: A semiofficial news agency in Iran says hackers gained access to the Facebook page of the country’s foreign minister and made comments about the country’s 2009 election. The report on Saturday by Fars quotes Marzieh Afkham, a foreign ministry spokeswoman, saying Mohammad Javad Zarif’s Facebook page had been hacked. Fars said hackers wrote comments about the controversial 2009 re-election of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that led to a massive crackdown on the country’s opposition. Fars did not elaborate and the posts could not be accessed on Saturday. A later post attributed to Zarif on the Facebook page said the account was “illegally accessed.” The post said he may close the Facebook page if it happens again. Zarif has had his Facebook page since 2009, though authorities have blocked the service in Iran. The US-educated diplomat regularly updates his Facebook page (facebook.com/jzarif) where he posts in Farsi, and sometimes interacts with some of his more-than 184,000 fans. Zarif also has a Twitter account in which he posts in English — despite no one inside the country being allowed legally to read his tweets. Using the newly activated account @JZarif, the foreign minister caused a diplomatic shockwave on September 5 when he wished Jews a happy Rosh Hashanah (new year) and also stated that Iran did not deny the Holocaust.