An Iranian news agency close to the government was hacked yesterday amid ongoing protests in the Islamic Republic that began after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, local media reported, AFP reported, quoted by BTA.

The Iranian woman of Kurdish origin, who died on September 16, was arrested three days earlier by the morality police and accused of violating strict Islamic dress codes.

"A group of hackers made the site of the Fars news agency unavailable for a few moments," Tasnim news agency reported last night.

Fars is among the government's main sources of information on the demonstrations in Iran, which it describes as "riots".

Iran has sent more troops to areas affected by protests

Today, Fars said on Telegram that users' access to its site was "disrupted" following a "sophisticated hacking operation and cyber attack on Friday evening".

"The removal of possible infections may create problems with some of our services for a few days," the agency pointed out.