Question

Why did the government of Iran have difficulty preventing information from getting out of the country during the 2009 election protests?
A. Ordinary citizens used thousands of different Internet file sharing sites and e-mail accounts, as well as Twitter, to transmit information.

B. International journalists were able to smuggle out their photos and videos.

C. Iran’s constitution protects freedom of the press, so the government was unable to take steps to prevent the media from reporting on the protests.

D. The government did not take steps to block access to the Internet.

Answer 1

Answer:

The correct answer is A. The government of Iran had difficulty preventing information from getting out of the country during the 2009 election protests because ordinary citizens used thousands of different Internet file sharing sites and e-mail accounts, as well as Twitter, to transmit information.

Explanation:

On June 12, 2009, presidential elections were held in Iran, the favorite of which was the reform candidate Mir Hosejn Musavi. The next day, it was announced that the acting head of state, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had received more than two-thirds of the votes. Mousavi marked the results from being falsified and his followers took to the streets. They wore green ribbons (the color of Mousavi's election campaign), uniting liberal clergy, secular intellectuals and national minorities (Musavi is of Azerbaijani origin). Hundreds of thousands of people marched through Tehran, where initially peaceful events grew into violence. The protests spread to other cities, and Iranians living abroad also joined. The core of the movement was students using social networks to organize demonstrations.