Search Engine’s Jesse Brown: “Canadian/Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan has been held and tortured in a Tehran prison for over a year, without being charged. Both the Canadian and Iranian governments seem content to let him stay there. The media has also largely forgotten his case. Hoder’s imprisonment begs the question: do we only fight for the freedom of dissidents whose beliefs we agree with?” (via Boing Boing)
Canadian/Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan has been stuck in  prison in Iran for over a year and has still not been officially charged with a crime.  What we know to be true is that Hodor has an independent voice that has at times been critical of Iran as well as other governments and individuals.  That the Canadian government should have no complaint about one of its citizens being jailed largely on the basis of content posted online while living in Canada should be an embarassment. We urge the Canadian government to press Iran on the issues and work to free one of its citizens.
Today is Hossein Derakhshan‘s 35th birthday. Today also marks one year, two months, and six days since his imprisonment.¬† He has been illegally detained since November 2008.During his confinement he has been tortured, both physically, and psychologically.¬† He has never been charged, or brought before a court.
Today, on his birthday, let’s honor him publicly.¬† Tweet.¬† Blog.¬† Speak out.¬† Call your elected representatives.
Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan , aka “Hoder,”¬† is an often controversial Iranian-Canadian blogger who became known in Iran as ‚Äúthe blogfather‚Äù for his role in kicking off the growing Persian Blog movement. Hossein was put in prison in Iran without trial due to his blogging and has spent most the last year behind bars, nearly eight months of that in solitary confinement. During his imprisonment he has suffered beatings in an attempt to coerce false confessions of having ties to the CIA and Israeli intelligence services. Read the rest of this entry…
Blogger Hossein Derakhshan was arrested at his family home in Tehran on 1 November 2008. Denied access to his family and to legal representation, no one knows where Hossein Derakhshan is held. Although he has been allowed to make four telephone calls to his home, each lasting around one minute, the last was in late November. He may face torture or other ill-treatment while held incommunicado.
The Canadian newspaper, the Globe and Mail, confirmed the arrest.
Our initial report on Hoder can be found here. On that earlier report we neglected to mention that Hoder was, for a short period, early on, an advisor to the CPB.
