Two Iranian Bloggers in Danger: Omid Reza Mirsyafi and Hossein Derakhshan
Sepideh Saremi, an Iranian-American blogger who runs Parsarts (and works at DECA, with whom we partnered to launch BBtv) shares word of a new series of blogger arrests inside Iran. The only really solid coverage I was seeing was in Farsi, so I asked her to please translate for Boing Boing. Here it is:
Iranian Blogger ArrestsThe Amirkabir Newsletter, a Persian-language site written by students at Tehran's Amirkabir University of Technology, reports that Iranian blogger Omid Reza Mirsyafi has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for "insulting authorities" and writing "propaganda" against the Islamic Republic.
Mirsyafi's sentence is the most recent episode in an long history of crackdowns on bloggers in Iran. Last month, Hossein Derakhshan, who is often called the "godfather" of Iranian blogging, was arrested on charges of spying for Israel. In recent years, Derakhshan's political views - which had turned increasingly pro-Islamic Republic - have made him a controversial figure in the Iranian blogosphere, but a number of Iranian bloggers today released a joint statement condemning Derakhshan's detention.
Snip from Iranian.com post on Derakshan's detention:
"Unfortunately, in recent years, numerous websites and blogs have been routinely blocked by the authorities, and some bloggers have been harassed or detained. Derakhshan's detention is but the latest episode in this ongoing saga and is being viewed as an attempt to silence and intimidate the blogging community as a whole.
Derakhshan's own position regarding a number of prisoners of conscience in Iran has been a source of contention among the blogging community and has caused many to distance themselves from him. This, however, doesn't change the fact that the freedom of expression is sacred for all not just the ones with whom we agree. We therefore categorically condemn the circumstances surrounding Derakhshan's arrest and detention and demand his immediate release."
the latest
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Iran - Closure of Nobel laureate's human rights organisation condemned
MONTREAL, Dec. 22 /CNW Telbec/ - Reporters Without Borders condemns
yesterday's closure of the Tehran-based Human Rights Defenders Centre by some
20 plain-clothes police. Headed by Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi and
launched in 2002, the centre provided free legal aid to journalists and human
rights activists.
"We urge the international community and human rights activists to press
for the reopening of the centre," Reporters Without Borders said. "After the
imprisonment of six journalists and intimidatory measures against those who
express their views online, this is a new attempt by the regime to silence its
critics. We fear further arrests. The circle must be able to continue to
defend those who use their right to free speech and those who defend that
right. We call for it to be allowed to reopen."
The police raided and closed the centre as Ebadi, who was awarded the
Nobel peace prize in 2003, was about to preside a ceremony to mark the 60th
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Run by lawyers and
human rights activists, the centre defends free speech and human rights. The
government has regarded its activities as "illegal" since 2006.
Ebadi told Reporters Without Borders today that "a request for a permit
was submitted to the interior ministry as soon as the circle was created, but
it was always turned down." She added that the circle intended to challenge
the closure. "We will exhaust all legal channels in an attempt to affirm our
rights," she said.
Reporters Without Borders has meanwhile learned that intelligence
officials arrested blogger Esmail Jafari (http://www.poutin.blogfa.com) on 18
December. Jafari was sentenced to five months in prison on 6 December in the
southwestern city of Bushehr for covering a demonstration in April by about 20
workers protesting against their dismissal. It is not known where he is held.
Officials have confirmed that blogger and women's rights activist Shahnaz
Gholami (http://azarwomen.blogfa.com) has been transferred to a prison in the
northwestern city of Tabriz, where she had been held with common criminals
since 9 November. Neither her lawyer nor her daughter has been able to see
her.
Iran is one of the world's most repressive countries towards journalists
and bloggers, who are punished severely if they criticise the government.
Three cyber-dissidents and six journalists are currently in prison.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reporters_Without_Borders