Sobeh Sadegh alleged that foreign governments are helping to establish independent websites in Iran. These websites are used, they say, to transform the Internet into an instrument for a “velvet revolution.”

According to the same source, the Islamic Republic’s Parliament has published a “study” of independent websites and blogs that they allege are devoted to a ”soft overthrowing” of the Islamic State.

—  Hamid Tehrani of Global Voices

Hossein Derakhshan  (courtesy of Global Voices Advocacy)

Iran has continued with its anti-free speech stance by arresting, Hossein Derakhshan, a prominent blogger in the country.  Hossein who writes one of the most popular blogs in Iran was arrested after he came back to the country a few weeks ago after living in Canada and was being investigated for espionage for Israel.

This stems for a visit he made to Israel as a Canadian citizen,  according to Jahan News Site, Hossein admitted to spying for Israel, (though there has been no confirmation of this to CPB).

According to Global Voices, the arrest has not been confirmed, and we will be updating you as we get more on this.

H/T to ynetnews

***

Note (from Curt): Although Hoder was originally a proponent of the reformists in Iran, he became a strident defender of the current Iranian president and international laughingstock Ahmadinejad. The same shift saw him turn from advertising his goal of showing fellow Iranians who followed his blog that Israel was a real place with real people to tedious antisemitism. He alienated many supporters with the shift, although this may have been as much due to his apparent opportunism and general unreliability.

Regardless of how odious his ideas and his person might be to many, the CPB is devoted to the idea that airing one’s thoughts and feelings should be possible even by, perhaps especially by, tools. It is not the sole province of saints. (That doesn’t mean he has the right to expect support for the ideas themselves.)

Our friend Hamid Tehrani points out, however, that the Iranian publication that “broke the news” is notoriously unreliable and needs to be confirmed by a more reliable outlet.  At this point, that has still yet to be done.

Iran’s parliament is set to debate a draft bill which could see the death penalty used for those deemed to promote corruption, prostitution and apostasy on the internet…

One of the things I find the most amusing about Iran is its tortured relationship with language, one which makes U.S. President Bush’s “Department of Naming Things the Opposite of What They Are”* seem almost reasonable. Here’s how the official news agency, ISNA, describes the “law.” It will “toughen punishment for harming mental security in society.” (Tzara was a journalist.)

Considering the nature of “debate” (not to mention “parliament”) in Iran, it seems unlikely that it will be “voted down.” So, look for the first publicly murdered bloggers to be coming to a news source near you in about a year.

Cyrus’s story will air today (July 4) on The World.

###

*This doesn’t really exist.

Or does it?**

**No, it doesn’t.

Ebrahimi was arrested at the request of Iranian authorities yesterday when he got off a flight from Germany at an Istanbul airport.

According to Ebrahimi, an Iranian intelligence officer who identified himself as Mohammad Taghi Esfahani presented an official document to the Turkish police, demanding that Ebrahimi be immediately deported to Iran.

Because of the intervention of an US diplomat and international NGOs, Ebrahimi was released at noon on Friday. He took a plane back to Berlin, Germany, and arrived there in the afternoon.

Ebrahimi has been imprisoned before in Iran. Originally a member of the paramilitary Basij and Sepah forces, Ebrahimi later got degrees in fine arts and international law. In 2000, he appeared in a controversial videotape where he confessed a link between the Iran’s religious and political leaders and the violent actions of a paramilitary group known as „Ansar-e Hezbollah“. Ebrahimi was subsequently sentenced to prison, where he spent two years. He then left the country to Germany, where he was granted political asylum. Amir Farshad Ebrahimi continued his work as a peace and human rights activist as a doctoral student at the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, majoring in human rights.

Simon Columbus | Blogger for Freedom

***

Thanks to Simon, who wrote this report. He’s our first contributor. He has his own human rights site and has begun to help FreeKareem.org as well.

The concert will take place on Monday, April 7th, 2008 at 8:00PM in the Edgerton Center for the Performing Arts at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut.

Iran is among the worst offenders in terms of harassing, arresting and imprisoning bloggers, as well as students.

(more…)

Update: Facebook responds. Kind of.

***

Update: RSF is trying to find out how Moroccan prosecutors determined Mourtada’s indentity.

Reporters Without Borders wonders how the police identified Mourtada. “Did the police get his computer’s IP address? And if so, how? We have asked the ISP, Maroc Telecom, in which the French company Vivendi is a shareholder, to provide us with the relevant information.”

The CPB wonders as well. And, keeping Yahoo in mind, as well as Facebook’s response below, we wonder if the list of people to ask is one name shorter than it ought to be? Laila Lalami wonders the same thing, in The Nation.

How the Moroccan police found out Mourtada’s identity remains a bit of a mystery. They could have obtained his IP address from Facebook, or from his service provider, Maroc Telecom, or from an old-fashioned snitch. But the preliminary court hearing did not include details of the police investigation, so the possibility of corporate cooperation cannot be ruled out. After all, China cracked down on dissidents last year with the help of Yahoo.

***

We wondered how Facebook felt about the recent arrest and three year sentence of Moroccan Fouad Mourtada for his satirical Facebook page of his country’s crown prince. So we wrote them. What we got was, well, given the precendents set by Yahoo, Google and other American companies, it can hardly be called surprising. It was disheartening, though.

Here’s my first email to the PR department.

To Whom It May Concern:

Could I get someone at Facebook to comment on the recent arrest in Morrocco of Fouad Mourtada? As you no doubt know, satirical Facebook pages are rampant.

I would also be interested in Facebook’s position on the arrest of Facebook commenters in Lebanon and its ban in Syria and Iran.

I am asking for two reasons. I am the director of the Committee to Protect Bloggers and I am also taking part in a weekly conversation with PRI’s The World. Here’s that public radio show’s last Tech Podcast, in which I took part. The next time Clark Boyd and I talk I would like to be able to mention Facebook’s position on these issues.

Regards,
Curt Hopkins
Director
Committee to Protect Bloggers

I received a response, if you can call it that, from a Facebook representative named Jaime Schopflin.

Hi Curt,

Here is our statement on this:

“We do not comment on these specific situations. Under our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, Facebook may share information with law enforcement and other government agencies when it has a good faith belief it is legally obligated to do so.”

Please attribute this to a Facebook spokesperson.

Let me know if you have any other questions,

-Jaime

Well, that’s boilerplate nonsense. And it stank of expectation. Here’s our non-answer and you’ll report it like a good little collaborator. I decided instead to talk Jaime’s offer seriously and send some questions. Here they are.

Jaime:

Really? That’s it? No condemnation of the imprisonment of one of your users for making a joke? No condemnation of authorities known to use torture (such as Syria) for arresting your customers (sic-Lebanon arrested; Syria banned)? No condemnation of censorship? No advocacy for the free speech that makes your service, site and business possible in the first place? In a morally unambiguous situation such as the suborning of communications for the preservation of personal power no comment except “no comment”? When students in Lebanon are arrested no expression of fellow-feeling or solidarity based on the fact that Facebook could not have been possible were it not for a) free speech and b) an engaged student population?

I’m very disappointed in this response, Jaime, and in Facebook. I hope someone higher up decides that it is incumbent on them to distinguish themselves from companies like Yahoo and Google. In the meantime, I’ll accept this as your answer. (And as to instructing me in how to attribute this “quote” of yours, don’t.)

Best wishes,
Curt Hopkins

I got the same response from a different PR person, Malorie Lucich, from an outside agency called Outcast.

Hi Curt,
Thanks for your email. Here is Facebook’s statement on the issue:

“We do not comment on these specific situations. Under our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, Facebook may share information with law enforcement and other government agencies when it has a good faith belief it is legally obligated to do so.”

Please attribute to Facebook or a Facebook spokesperson.

Best,
Malorie

This is ridiculous PR boobery, especially for a company that provides a product for radical communication and connection. Do you think they’ll find their voice, if not their souls, if a great many more people ask the same questions? It’s worth a try.

Here’s Facebook’s general PR email address: press@facebook.com. Here’s Jaime’s email address: jaimes@facebook.com And here’s Malorie’s: malorie@outcastpr.com.

The action in Tehran province was the latest move in a campaign against fashion and other practices deemed incompatible with Islamic values, including women flouting strict dress codes and barber shops offering men Western hair styles . . . Many young Iranians are avid users of the Internet, some using chat rooms to socialise with the opposite sex. Mingling between sexes outside marriage is banned and many Web sites considered unIslamic are blocked by the authorities. The cafe crackdown coincides with a winter campaign against women wearing tight trousers tucked into long boots and other “improper dress” such as short overcoats and hats instead of scarves.

In a separate campaign, police also inspected 275 restaurants in Tehran for compliance with a new ban on smoking in public places. It shut down 17 of these restaurants and gave warnings to 138.

Mojtaba Saminejad. Mojtaba was one of the people featured on CPB’s Free Mojtaba and Arash Day, the fifth leading meme in the blogosphere in 2005. He was arrested in June of 2004, after detailing the arrest of other Iranian bloggers on his blog. He had originally been freed on bail but the authorities doubled the bail and he was forced to return to prison. In June of 2005, he was sentenced to almost three years in prison. At one point he was allowed out, in handcuffs, to take his university examinations. He was released in September of 2006. He blogs again, at Ghomaar, on political and social issues and works for an Iranian publishing house.

Arash Sigarchi. Arash was the other focus of the CPB’s Free Mojtaba and Arash Day. Arash was sentenced to 14 years in prison for…well, who knows? It’s Iran. His blog, meeting with foreign reporters, any number of other real and fictional offenses. His sentenced was subsequently reduced to three years. Arash was released from prison after being diagnosed with cancer of the tongue. Mercifully, he has recovered his health. However, with a renewed health is a renewed possibility of being imprisoned again. However, while in jail, Arash lost his brother.

Ahmad Seraji (Aryo). This blogger slipped over the border to Turkey. According to a Persian human rights blog, he was beaten by Turkish police, who tried to have him deported. He subsequently escaped from Turkey with his wife.

Kianoosh Sanjari. This blogger also fled charges but escaped to Iraqi Kurdistan.

Among others we are researching are Omid Sheikhan (Shurideh), Najmeh Oumidparvar & Mohamad Reza Nasab Abdolahi. If you know anything on the status of these bloggers, or of any others that are in, or have been released from, prison, please let us know.

Update: We received an email from Kianoosh.

I was kept in solitary confinement, by the Intelligence ministry for 2 months in the 209 section of Evin prison, and had experienced enormous physical and psychological pressure.

I was discharged from prison on bail and escaped Iran.

I spent sometime in the Iraqi Kurdistan and then managed to get asylum in Norway through Amnesty International.

According to statistics released by Reporters without boarders, 2 journalists and 2 bloggers are in Iranian prisons, including Jelwe Javaheri and Maryam Hossenkhah.

A number of students who have been arrested during the past week have also been bloggers.

Update: We received information regarding Omid Sheikhan, aka Shurideh. He was given 124 lashes, which he survived, and, after four months, representatives of Shirin Ebadi’s Nobel-prize winning human rights law firm in Tehran were able to get him released. He is out and doing well.

Update: Persian Impediment ]]> http://committeetoprotectbloggers.org/2007/12/08/catching-up-with-imprisoned-iranian-bloggers/feed/ http://committeetoprotectbloggers.org/2007/12/07/bypass-flickr-ban-with-firefox-plugin/ http://committeetoprotectbloggers.org/2007/12/07/bypass-flickr-ban-with-firefox-plugin/#comments Sat, 08 Dec 2007 02:43:04 +0000 Curt http://committeetoprotectbloggers.org/2007/12/07/bypass-flickr-ban-with-firefox-plugin/ I discovered today via VentureBeat a Firefox plugin that works to circumvent Flickr bans without the use of a proxy.

According to Digital Inspiration, the plugin, called Access Flickr, was developed by Hamed Saber, an Iranian photographer who uses Flickr heavily.

The Access Flickr extension for Firefox substitutes the HTTP header parameters before sending a request to Flickr and therefore fools the government filters. This extension is only for accessing Flickr.com, it won’t work for other sites like YouTube or Orkut.

If you live in one of the many countries where Flickr is blocked and use a Firefox browser, you can download Access Flickr from the Mozilla site.

Flickr is, or has been, blocked in Iran, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and China. Can anyone attest as to whether the block is still in place in these countries? Have I missed any?