Iraq imposed a week-long suspension on the Telegram messaging app due to national security concerns. The suspension was lifted on Sunday. News from Deutsche Welle.
As a result of this move, Iraq came under criticism from pro-Iranian groups.
From Sunday morning, the app is being used without a virtual private network (VPN). Reporters of the AFP news agency in Baghdad reported this.
“The ban on Telegram will be lifted from Sunday,” Iraq’s communications ministry announced the news on Saturday evening.
Telegram is very popular in Iraq. In January this year, the Ministry of Interior said that 1.6 million citizens of Iraq’s 4.33 million population use Telegram.
Telegram is one of the most popular means of communication, especially for groups associated with armed factions and pro-Iranian political parties.
The terrorist group Islamic State once controlled large parts of Iraq. Many Syrians in that group and neighboring Iraq use Telegram.
A coalition of pro-Iranian Shiite Muslim parties is in Iraq’s parliament. They supported Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani.
When it banned the app, the government said, Telegram could “leak state institutions and private data, which could disrupt national security and social peace.”