Iranian Bloggers Beaten and Whipped
Posted on November 28, 2005
A article in the London Telegraph says Iranian bloggers are being beaten, whipped and arrested by Iranian authorities for speaking out against the government. The article says the new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is trying to centralize his authority and is cracking down on bloggers.
There are an estimated 100,000 active blogs written by Iranians both within the country and across the diaspora. Persian ties with French as the second most common blogging language after English.The list of countries on Reporters Without Borders list can be found here. In addition to Iran it includes China, Cuba, Libya, North Korea and Saudi Arabia to name a few. There is also a watchlist that includes the EU and the United States.Over the last year, however, Iranian authorities have arrested and beaten dozens of bloggers, charged with crimes such as espionage and insulting leaders of the Islamic Republic. Among them is Omid Sheikhan, who last month was sentenced to one year in prison and 124 lashes of the whip for writing a blog that featured satirical cartoons of Iranian politicians.
The press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders last week named Iran as one of 15 countries who were "enemies of the internet".
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