The torture of fellow bloggers in Iran
: My fellow bloggers, we must keep the attention and heat on the torture and censorship of our colleagues in Iran.
My fellow journalists, we must defend the human rights of our bloging colleagues there.
The latest story says the Iranian judiciary is condemning the bloggers who said they were being tortured — and mind you, they said this via the former vice-president of Iran, a blogger himself (whose own blog was blocked after he wrote about this). Says the AP:
Iran’s hard-line judiciary on Tuesday denounced journalists who claimed they were tortured into making confessions, saying the newsmen were inciting people against the government.
More than 20 journalists from print, Internet and other media outlets have been detained since September in a crackdown on the pro-reform press.
Several of the journalists told a presidential commission last month they were tortured into confessing to charges such as insulting sacred beliefs and endangering national security after publishing articles critical of conservatives in the government.
“My interrogator punched me in the head and stomach and kicked me in the back many times to force me confess to having illegal sex and endangered national security through my writings,” [said Hanif Mazrouei, one of the Web bloggers detained].
Mazrouei spent 66 days in solitary confinement and was blindfolded most of the time. No official charges were brought against him. He and the others have been freed but are frequently summoned to court.
: Also see Brooding Persian, Hoder, Iranian Truth about censorship and blocking of blogs and sites in Iran.
: RELATED: Lady Sun, a well-respected Iranian blogger, has just returned to the ‘sphere.
