A revolutionary court in Iran has handed eight young people jail sentences of 11 to 21 years for antiregime posts on Facebook.
The official IRNA news agency reports that the eight, whose names were not given, were jailed for "acting against national security, antiregime propaganda, and insulting religious values and Iranian leaders."
Access to social networks, including Twitter and Facebook, is routinely filtered by Iranian authorities, as is access to other websites considered un-Islamic or detrimental to the regime.
President Hassan Rohani, a self-declared moderate, has promised greater tolerance on social, cultural, and media issues -- a vow that helped him defeat conservatives in last year's election.
But his push has been opposed by traditionalists and ultra-conservatives who hold sway in the establishment and key institutions, including the judiciary.
Based on reporting by AFP and AP