VOA: Iran Jams Documentary of Iranian Protester Neda

The Voice of America's Persian News Network says Iran tried to jam a television documentary about a woman shot dead during post-election protests last year.

PNN says it received many complaints from Iranian viewers that their signal was jammed soon after the network began airing the documentary about Neda Agha-Soltan Wednesday.

The network says viewers in different parts of Iran also informed VOA that their electricity went out shortly after the documentary went on air.  However, the documentary is also available on the Internet and has been downloaded tens of thousands of times.

VOA plans to re-broadcast the documentary on June 12, the anniversary of Iran's disputed presidential election, and on June 20, the anniversary of Neda Agha-Soltan's death.

She was shot and killed in Tehran, apparently by Iranian security forces, during one of several violent anti-government protests that followed the Iranian election.  Mobile phone images and a video showing her dying moments were widely seen around the world, and her name became a rallying cry for those demonstrating for reform in Iran.

U.S. cable television network HBO produced the documentary For Neda and granted VOA's Persian News Network the rights to broadcast it before it is shown in the United States this month.  

Incumbent Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won a landslide victory in last year's election.  The opposition alleged fraud, but Iranian authorities said Mr. Ahmadinejad's re-election was fair.

Dozens of people were killed and hundreds arrested in the post-election unrest.