(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has strongly protested Iran’s relentless efforts to stifle free expression online following the arrest of five webloggers in less than two months, the latest on 28 November 2004. “The government is now attacking blogs, the last bastion of freedom on a network that is experiencing ever tighter control,” RSF said. “At the […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has strongly protested Iran’s relentless efforts to stifle free expression online following the arrest of five webloggers in less than two months, the latest on 28 November 2004.
“The government is now attacking blogs, the last bastion of freedom on a network that is experiencing ever tighter control,” RSF said. “At the same time, an Iranian delegate is sitting on a UN-created working group on Internet governance. The international community should condemn this masquerade,” the organisation added.
Three webloggers – identified only by their first names – were arrested on 29 October 2004. They were: Dariush (http://www.dariushkabir.com), Omid (http://www.shurideh.com) and Payvand (http://gayaneh.net).
Blogger Mojtaba Saminejad was arrested in early November for speaking out against the arrest of his three colleagues on his blog (http://man-namanam.blogspot.com).
Farid Modaressi, a member of the student organisation Office to Consolidate Unity, was arrested on 28 November on the orders of the Prosecutor’s Office in the city of Qom. He had posted a number of articles on his weblog (http://farid.blogset.com) exposing the persistent harassment of members of the reformist movement in the city. Two of his brothers were reportedly arrested two days earlier and are apparently still being held.
The crackdown also continues against news websites. Hamed Motaghi, editor of Naqshineh.com, a webzine in Qom, was sentenced on appeal on 18 November to a three-month suspended prison term for “publishing false information with the aim of disrupting public order”. His site has been inaccessible in Iran since March.
Five cyberjournalists – Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh, Fershteh Ghazi, Javad Gholam Tamayomi, Omid Memarian and Shahram Rafihzadeh – are still imprisoned for contributing to reformist websites (see IFEX alerts of 9 and 5 November, 29, 21, 18, 14 and 8 October 2004 and others).
