Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Iranian Blogger Returns From Exile for Vote
In the article Iranian Blogger Returns From Exile for Vote by Nahid Siamdoust this article describes the use of being able to blog. Hossein Derakhshan, is an Iranian who started a blogosphere, from Iran. He was a writer for a newspaper and authorities shut it down. “Derakhshan influenced Iran’s media culture by creating his Web log titled “Editor, Myself, and by helping other Iranians set up their own blogs”. Blogs are a very helpful fact in this country and a lot of people are following his blogs.
“Derakhshan has been critical of the Islamic Republic policies, especially in the English version of his blog, the English site gives me more protection, the authorities care about the influence that I have on Iranians inside, most of whom read the Persian site”.
“His blogs are blocked inside the country by Iranian authorities, but many users have figured out how to get around the filter“. This shows how they don’t want Iranians to know about his blogs because then they might feel different about Iran and might start to blog to him about the issues that might be going on in Iran. Another thing is that Derakhshan is afraid to go back to his country because of what he had wrote on his web log. “He later announced his trip to Iran on his English blog, asking readers not to write about it in Persian, warning in a June 13 entry”. One can see that he has to protect himself by asking people who read his blog to not write in Persian but only in English so that Iranians could not understand it. There are also no restrictions on weblogistan, so one can write about personal issues or politics and it won’t matter.
“One prominent blogger, Sina Motalebi, was arrested in 2003 and soon after fled to the Netherlands. Last fall, Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi ordered the arrest of more than 20 bloggers, all of whom were imprisoned for several weeks. So far, at least 2 have been sentenced to long jail terms“.
“Web logs are not like newspapers that you can just shut down easily, there are ways to circumvent filters, and if they shit down your blog, you can just open another one, Mazroui said”. This is a great way for Iranians to be able to express how they feel and if they shut one blog down they can open up a new one just as easy showing that they could express themselves and they can’t really do too much about it. Lastly, (Derakhshan)“He said he received a government message that if he respected the Islamic Republic’s unwritten publication guidelines, the filter on his site would be lifted and he would be able to travel to and from Iran freely, without the fear of arrest”. This states that he has to obey by their rules in order to travel to and from Iran as much as he wants with out being afraid of getting arrested. “In effect, most Iranians live two lives, the private and the public. One can see how Iran tries to limit people and to not express their true thoughts because if they do they could be arrested. Derakhstan’s web logs definitely help out with allowing people to express their feelings by blogging on his web page.
“Derakhshan has been critical of the Islamic Republic policies, especially in the English version of his blog, the English site gives me more protection, the authorities care about the influence that I have on Iranians inside, most of whom read the Persian site”.
“His blogs are blocked inside the country by Iranian authorities, but many users have figured out how to get around the filter“. This shows how they don’t want Iranians to know about his blogs because then they might feel different about Iran and might start to blog to him about the issues that might be going on in Iran. Another thing is that Derakhshan is afraid to go back to his country because of what he had wrote on his web log. “He later announced his trip to Iran on his English blog, asking readers not to write about it in Persian, warning in a June 13 entry”. One can see that he has to protect himself by asking people who read his blog to not write in Persian but only in English so that Iranians could not understand it. There are also no restrictions on weblogistan, so one can write about personal issues or politics and it won’t matter.
“One prominent blogger, Sina Motalebi, was arrested in 2003 and soon after fled to the Netherlands. Last fall, Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi ordered the arrest of more than 20 bloggers, all of whom were imprisoned for several weeks. So far, at least 2 have been sentenced to long jail terms“.
“Web logs are not like newspapers that you can just shut down easily, there are ways to circumvent filters, and if they shit down your blog, you can just open another one, Mazroui said”. This is a great way for Iranians to be able to express how they feel and if they shut one blog down they can open up a new one just as easy showing that they could express themselves and they can’t really do too much about it. Lastly, (Derakhshan)“He said he received a government message that if he respected the Islamic Republic’s unwritten publication guidelines, the filter on his site would be lifted and he would be able to travel to and from Iran freely, without the fear of arrest”. This states that he has to obey by their rules in order to travel to and from Iran as much as he wants with out being afraid of getting arrested. “In effect, most Iranians live two lives, the private and the public. One can see how Iran tries to limit people and to not express their true thoughts because if they do they could be arrested. Derakhstan’s web logs definitely help out with allowing people to express their feelings by blogging on his web page.
