Iranian Blogger Said To Be In Solitary Confinement For Three Weeks

nytimes.com:

On Friday, an Iranian blogger and human rights activist, Mojtaba Samienejad, reported that a fellow blogger who had been working as a journalist for a reformist newspaper, Fariba Pajouh, has been in solitary confinement in Tehran's Evin Prison for three weeks.

Read the whole story: nytimes.com

Comments

[wereeverywhere]

Meanwhile apparently in homage to IRI's repression, in Syria:

http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Syria/10348791.html

"A human rights group says a Syrian court has sentenced a blogger to three years in prison for "spreading false news that weakens the nation's morals".

The National Organisation for Human Rights said on Monday that Karim Antoine Arbaji, a 31-year-old who writes frequently about corruption in the country, was sentenced a day earlier."

[Obenauer]

It seems that lack of freedom of conscience goes along with suppression of freedom of press. The whole issue is not following an orthodox party line, whether religious or political philosophy. I understand that the IRI is believed by its proponents to be the most perfect religious and philosophical construct. If it was so perfect, why didn't this religious construct exist in previous centuries?

[wereeverywhere]

You raise a good point that orthodoxy itself, not religion, is the culprit to such intolerance to free thought and expression.

[ticonderoga]

Iranian women sure are beautiful.

[joebaggadonuts]

What the hard line ruling elites in Iran are doing is digging their own graves. Their time of enlightenment may not be at hand, but it is not far off either. They are asking for their own undoing by revolution; the very thing that gave them power in the first place. But they appear not to see this yet. I hope they will discover their mortality soon, and that their "god" lets them see the error of their ways before they perish.

[Khirad]

Recalled this as apropos,

"The ‘Mr. Jones’ of Iranian society, once the West, is no longer an external threat. Every last Khomeini apostle is now an enemy of the person of Big Brother himself and must be hunted down by thought police and put on trial for every committed and non-committed thought-cr­ime."

http://tehranbureau.com/irans-animal-farm/

[changeself]

OMG!

it's time to nuke iran! there's no other way to deal with those animals!

[Khirad]

Sarcasm duly noted. That's the great thing about all this, for a people who have been dehumanized incessantly in US media, and more subtly since long before, especially, at one time, by the British. They are now living breathing, human beings with dreams - on "The Rooftops of Tehran" (book reference), as it were.

[C Big Pic]

Here are the true heroines and heroes of Iran:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMMRI8ZUagg

[joabear]

Islamic Republic of Rapists:
The humiliation endured in Islamic Republic prisons

France24 gives us an account of what "Minou", a girl detained after the protests went through in prison. It's a sad story and truly shows the depths of this corrupt regime's depravity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7mP4tn4EHA&feature=player_embedded

[Khirad]

A bullet will be too good for these bastards. I'd at least make them work hard labor to pay for their own first, anyway. I'm against capital punishment, generally, but these ******* had better run to Venezuela when they feel the wind a changin'.

[Obenauer]

Then they will have Interpol and people who are after them for justice. Nazi war criminals were hunted for many years after their crimes, so it wouldn't surprise me if some determined people will bring them to justice even if they try to hide in South America.

[joabear]

Eternal Shame on Supporters of Ahmadinejad and the Supreme Leader

Another disturbing account of a raped detainee in Iran:

Raped and beaten for daring to question President Ahmadinejad’s election

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6829921.ece

[Obenauer]

This is criminal, and this also blasphemes the Faith of Islam.

[joabear]

Demonstration planned in New York during Ahmadinejad's UN visit on September 23
Press Release, Solidarity Committee for Advancement of Democracy in Iran


Press Release, Solidarity Committee for Advancement of Democracy in Iran



In order to:

Defend human rights and the dignity of the people of Iran;

Relay their cry for justice to the rest of the world; and

Demand freedom of all political prisoners in Iran,

We invite you:



To participate in a demonstration by Iranians from all over the world in front of the United Nations building on September 23rd.

Let the whole world know that we do not recognize the illegitimate president hand-picked by the "Supreme Leader."

Let us protest the brutal suppressions, tortures, and killings of freedom loving people who were peacefully demonstrating against the regime. Those responsible for these human rights violations and crimes are pacing the UN hallways, rather then being tried by international courts and tribunals.

Let us join and support the heroic struggle of the freedom-loving people of Iran, who want to replace the dictatorship of Velayat e Fagheeh (Supreme Leader) with a genuine democratic republic based on the will of the people.

http://www.payvand.com/news/09/sep/1001.html

Watch how the regime in Iran tortures the protesters:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=121111799589&id=108514667270&ref=mf

Join us in the Big Demonstration Against Ahmadinejad and his supporting mullah, Khameneyi, when he speaks at UN.
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=39523792780&topic=10144

[Obenauer]

Seriously, Ahmadinejad is coming to New York City to visit the UN on September 23rd? He really has the nerve!

[joabear]

Cartoon: Khamenei pissing in his pants

http://iranian.com/main/node/80302

[joabear]

IRANIANS
There is another Iran

http://iranian.com/main/2009/sep/there-another-iran

[Obenauer]

i hope that the people behind the gates of the UN will both listen to and hear the protesters during Mr. Ahmadinejad's visit to the UN.

[Khirad]

The fourth paragraph especially summed things up quite succinctly.

[joabear]

Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC) believes that the development of an
accountability movement and a culture of human rights in Iran are crucial to the long-term peace and
security of the country and the Middle East region. As numerous examples have illustrated, the removal
of an authoritarian regime does not necessarily lead to an improved human rights situation if institutions
and civil society are weak, or if a culture of human rights and democratic governance has not been
cultivated. By providing Iranians with comprehensive human rights reports, data about past and present
human rights violations and information about international human rights standards, particularly the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the IHRDC programs will strengthen Iranians’
ability to demand accountability, reform public institutions, and promote transparency and respect for
human rights. Encouraging a culture of human rights within Iranian society as a whole will allow political
and legal reforms to have real and lasting weight.

http://www.iranhrdc.org/httpdocs/English/pdfs/Reports/Deadlt%20Fatwa%20-%20Iran%27s%201988%20Prison%20Massacre.pdf

[joabear]

Supreme Rapist of Iran issuing death threats against his own people:

Khamenei Friday sermon
Vows 'harsh response' to opposition
http://www.iranian.com/main/2009/sep/khamenei-friday-sermon

[Khirad]

They are still clearly rattled and desperate - let's try to take heart in that, at least.

[joabear]

"journalists and bloggers"

All in all, this is proving a bad year for journalists. More are in jail than at any time since the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based advocacy group, began keeping records. Of the 174 held, some may go free soon; but as a crackdown in Iran demonstrates, there is also a risk that more will join them.

Indeed, Iran is chiefly responsible for these ghastly data. At least 41 journalists have been arrested there since the election in June. Some are now free, but the whereabouts of others is unknown.

Iran now holds at least 27 journalists, almost as many as China (30), and more than Cuba (25). Once inside (in Iran especially) things can get worse. Omidreza Mirsayafi, a blogger who was given 30 months for mocking Iran’s leaders, died in jail in March. Press freedom is also under attack in Iraq.

The internet, long seen as a way of dodging dictators, can be dangerous. At least 25 bloggers have been arrested this year. The repression of online journalism is intensifying in China, Vietnam, Burma and Iran, says Clothilde Le Coz of Reporters Without Borders, a group that defends journalists"
http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14380281

[joabear]

Iranian rape and torture victims at renewed risk

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/iranian-rape-and-torture-victims-renewed-risk-20090910

Eyewitness Account of the Conditions in Evin and How Amir Javadifar Died

http://hra-iran.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1716:54657&catid=66:304&Itemid=293