My friend Nazli finally got the OK from Hossein Derakhshan’s sister, Azadeh Derakhshan, to publicly announce that Hossein Derakhshan, one of the first Iranian bloggers, was arrested in the afternoon of November 1, in Tehran.
I am quoting this news from Nazli Kamvari, a friend of Hossein Derakhshan and an Iranian blogger living in Toronto, who has been directly in touch with Hossein’s sister and just wrote about this news in her Persian blog.
My understanding is that Hossein’s family has been under pressure from the authorities not to talk about Hossein’s arrest and not to get a lawyer for him. So, it is understandable that they are not talking to the media. But we at least can assure both the Persian and global blogospher, who were previously in doubts about Hossein’s arrest, that he’s really arrested.
Hossein has gone through various changes in his politics and he has rubbed many activists the wrong way, including myself. (I personally don’t approve his politics and we have had couple of fierce arguments and fights in the past few months.) However, we should not have double standards when we deal with human rights. Any human being should be entitled to freedom of expression and should have access to an attorney while in jail. I hope human rights advocates start campaigning for Hossein Derakhshan.
Update: I personally talked to his sister, too. She is very worried about Hossein. We should be careful with the way we spread the news not to have a negative effect. Absolutley no neocon propaganda shit.
Globe and Mail: Blogger’s family confirms his arrest
3 comments
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Thursday, December 11, 2008 at 7:09 pm
anna shane
bloggers need to start blogging for his release, and soon. He’s into free speech, not abetting war mongers on any side. The Iranians who’ve arrested him must not understand that bloggers are their friends, we’re the ones that blogged against Bush bombing Iran with his so-called tactical nukes, and that the Iranian people get along fine with the west and still keep their Iranian identity. This is a big mistake for Iranian authorities to make, they should be going after criminals and real spies (if there are any) not their blogger friends. Free speech never bombed anyone.
Thursday, January 1, 2009 at 1:09 am
پرهام
Hi Dear Lady Sun
I don’t know why you disabled commenting system on your Persian weblog ..
However, here is very nice too.
Happy 2009 !
Link
Bye
Sunday, January 4, 2009 at 2:45 am
David
I’m very sorry to read this news Sanam! Of all people, I would have thought that Hoder would know how dangerous visiting Iran could be! I really hope he will not be harmed in prison. I also hope that he will be released and allowed to leave Iran once again.