February 22, 2005
The is a Job for the Alliance of Free Blogs if There Ever Was One
Read all about it at Committee to Protect Bloggers.
Iranian bloggers Arash Sigarchi and Mojtaba Saminejad have been jailed for expressing their opinions on the internet. Mojtaba has been released, but still faces charges. Arash is still imprisoned.
Tip o' the tam to Michelle Malkin.
UPDATE:
(New York, February 24, 2005 - Reuters)--The Iranian government sentenced the prominent blogger Arash Cigarchi to 14 years in prison for expressing his opinions on the Internet and in the international press, marking a new low for freedom of expression in Iran, Human Rights Watch said today. "The Iranian government is sending a message to its critics: keep silent or face years in prison," said Widney Brown, deputy program director of Human Rights Watch.In the northern province of Gilan, the revolutionary court issued the sentence on February 2. However, the court made its ruling public only on February 22. Charges brought against Cigarchi include espionage, "aiding and abating hostile governments and opposition groups," endangering national security and insulting Iran's leaders. The court based its decision on a report by the intelligence ministry agents who arrested Cigarchi on January 17.
14 years in prison for blogging. Arash's sentence is meant to be an example to all other uppity Iranians who want to criticize their exaulted leaders-from-on-high. Surmising the self-preservation instinct that must exist in people who are raised in an oppressive environment, I'd guess that revolution from within is less likely today than it wsas yesterday. More and more it looks like a rscue from without may be the only way to secure liberty to the Iranian people.
Another decade of tyranny is well-underway. What should we do and how should we do it?
