Iran Parliament to Debate Death Penalty for Bloggers
The Iranian parliament is set to debate a draft bill that would add a number of crimes to the list of those that can result in execution, among them "establishing weblogs and sites promoting corruption, prostitution and apostasy." Apostasy means the abandonment of a religion. The official Iranian news agency reports that the bill is intended to "toughen punishment for harming mental security in society."
Iran already imprisons bloggers for challenging the government and executed 317 people for other crimes last year, up from 177 the year prior according to Amnesty International.
The French Press Agency reported on the bill yesterday and according to The Committee to Protect Bloggers, the BBC's The World radio show will offer a more in depth report in the coming days.
Blogging is wildly popular in Iran, where a new generation of young people frequently challenge the old, hyper-conservative religious government. The Committe to Protect Bloggers says that Iran is "among the worst offenders in terms of harassing, arresting and imprisoning bloggers, as well as students." You can see the group's extensive coverage of Iranian cyber-censorship and harrasment of bloggers here. The Iranian government has blocked access to Facebook, Yahoo! and Flickr, among other sites.
We at ReadWriteWeb condemn the application of the death penalty to bloggers as itself an abhorent crime. Cultural relativism has its place, but this isn't it. We want to offer our support to the new generation of Iranian young people struggling for freedom online and elsewhere, in any way we can, short of a US invasion of the country.
Comments
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WTF?!
Posted by: l0ckergn0me
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July 4, 2008 11:12 AM
i think they are debating weather to include wordpress bloggers or just users of blogger. :)
Posted by: (jeff)isageek
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July 4, 2008 11:13 AM
It's not exactly a very liberal/free-speechy kind of nation is it?
Posted by: Adam Turetzky
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July 4, 2008 11:18 AM
This more than anything I can think of makes me glad I'm American today.
Posted by: Sprague D
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July 4, 2008 11:18 AM
That country's government sucks. The country itself and (most of) its people are awesome though.
Posted by: Bjorn Tipling
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July 4, 2008 11:25 AM
Sunny-side up: At least they're debating it. :-)
Posted by: Louis Gray
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July 4, 2008 11:29 AM
@Sprague D there are plenty of other countries that don't even have the death penalty for anything - America is only slightly up the scale you know
Posted by: Ivan Pope
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July 4, 2008 11:30 AM
It won't be long before Ahmadinejad installs his horse in the Parliament
Posted by: Peter Simard
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July 4, 2008 11:41 AM
I feel sorry for the Iranian people who have to deal with these idiots
Posted by: Shey
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July 4, 2008 11:48 AM
With all the problems we have in the US, the FISA debacle, the illegal occupation, etc... at least we aren't being slaughtered for publishing our ideas.
Thanks for taking on this subject here at RWW.
And Marshall, enjoy the 4th!
Posted by: Jon | July 4, 2008 11:55 AM
i am from iran we are filtered from both side our government has filtered sites like fliker youtube facebook and almost all social sites and in the other side in particular American websites have denied some important services like google code and google earth and many useful services to us because of USA sanction law .
i am network engineer i can't get American company certification .
because of USA sanction.
there is presser from both side .
Posted by: skh | July 4, 2008 12:01 PM
To be fair, Iran isn't considering the death penalty for bloggers per-se, only those bloggers who promote "corruption, prostitution and apostasy." So they'll still be able to blog about stuff, just not call out the government, put up pictures of ladies without a trash sack over their head, or say that the religion (which is so great that the death penalty is required to keep people following it) sucks.
Posted by: Jonny C | July 4, 2008 12:33 PM
I want to thank you for this post. Some form of external pressure *may* help people in Iran enjoy a better life.
As you mentioned correctly, this is far from cultural relativism. Getting killed because of expressing ideas is not a part of most Iranian belief system, but is for a minority of people who govern the country.
Posted by: SoloGen | July 4, 2008 12:48 PM
this is just part of a "good cop, bad cop" game. they'll defeat the bill and then everyone will go "Yay! now bloggers only get torture and years in prison for being snarky about the government! Iran is teh progressive democracy!"
Posted by: Karim
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July 4, 2008 1:05 PM
It is truly courageous for Iranian bloggers to express their views, or to simply report what is really happening in their country, knowing that they face a genuine threat of imprisonment or worse. Especially on this day, news such as this can remind us of the need to be ever vigilant in protecting our freedoms, especially those freedoms we often take for granted. It is good of ReadWriteWeb to express its solidarity with the Iranian bloggers, and appropriate given this site's purpose. However, the final phrase, "short of a US invasion of the country", was inappropriate at best for a non-political blog. Expressing your political views is best saved for one of the many political blogs that exist rather than posting them here on ReadWriteWeb, regardless of how brief that political comment might be.
Posted by: David | July 4, 2008 1:07 PM
Bomb 'em! (kidding)
Posted by: Aaron Brazell
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July 4, 2008 1:12 PM
Best thing to remember here is : Just because something is written it doesn't mean it is true!
Posted by: Andy | July 4, 2008 1:18 PM
Aaron, don't let Sean McBride see that!
Posted by: Akiva Moskovitz
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July 4, 2008 1:22 PM
Peter, your comment illicited a surprise snort out of me. I never snort. Good show!
Posted by: Akiva Moskovitz
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July 4, 2008 1:23 PM
Need a shirt now that says, "Give me Blogging, or give me death!" - proud to be an American!
Posted by: Jesse Stay
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July 4, 2008 1:29 PM
Thanks for such a great post. We take our freedom of speech for granted, when people around the world are being harassed, imprisoned and even killed for speaking their minds. You do a good job of making us aware. A perfect post on the 4th of July.
Posted by: doug coleman | July 4, 2008 1:38 PM
@Ivan Pope - nice reply - people in glass houses shouldn't throw rocks and all that
@Peter Simard - I think you'll find Nero (he of the horse for senator fame) was higher on the dodgy ranking than the Iranian Government or Ahmadinejad himself
@Jonnyc - spoken like a true Xenophobe - is it timely to mention the debacles that have been performed in the name of other religions - witness the crusades anyone
That said - this isn't what Islam is about - another case of zealots manipulating a religious message for their own purposes......
Posted by: Ben Kepes
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July 4, 2008 1:50 PM
I've given it some thought and I think I'm against it.
Posted by: Ian McAllister
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July 4, 2008 3:12 PM
I've seen some MySpace pages that might qualify.
Posted by: Chris Baskind
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July 4, 2008 3:14 PM
Are you exempt from the death penalty if you host your blog with Go Daddy?
The Masked Millionaire
Posted by: The Masked Millionaire | July 4, 2008 3:46 PM
My question is: does RWW support an American invasion of Iran? The last paragraph wasn't very clear about it.
Posted by: Enric Llagostera | July 4, 2008 3:53 PM
I believe they will just chop off hands for tweets
Posted by: Nicholas Molnar
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July 4, 2008 3:53 PM
except you dont see crusades happening now do you?
Islamic extremists are far worse then anything in the middle ages
and you think bush is bad at least you have the right to call him out if you disagree with him
but any blogger in Iran couldn't even do that to their government
Posted by: me | July 4, 2008 3:56 PM
crazy world we're living in
Posted by: Dobromir Hadzhiev
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July 4, 2008 4:02 PM
They have executed many under the "harming mental security in society" related jurisdiction. If they cannot find another reason to execute, this is going to be the reason.
Many thanks to Marshall & RWW for highlighting this.
Posted by: Iranian Blogger | July 4, 2008 4:31 PM
i am from iran. this isn,t only for wordpress or blogger.it,s all about bloggers in iran.:(
Posted by: mhmazidi
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July 4, 2008 4:43 PM
yes, that's for all blogger and site's owners! :(
Posted by: amin
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July 4, 2008 4:54 PM
:O
Posted by: shandiz
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July 4, 2008 5:02 PM
Why would a people put up with such nonsense?
Posted by: Vince DeGeorge
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July 4, 2008 5:10 PM
Maybe instead of relaying every negative news about Iran like a good little sheep... you could pause for just a second and wonder why Iran is suddenly all over the main stream media... In case you didn't know, a lot of other bad things are happening all over the World in many other countries, and yes even in the US...
Why is the focus on Iran suddenly?
Even when all the information reported is true, there can still be bias in what is reported and what is not.
I'm obviously not trying to defend Iran here...
But I'm not a big fan of public lynching by masses composed primarily of "proud" Americans who couldn't point Iran on a map a few weeks ago but now feel untitled to "condemn" them on the basis of a couple of brief articles they skimmed through while sipping their morning coffee...
Unless you're really going to put some effort into your political pieces, stick to the web and technology. Only 5 measly paragraphs on this issue makes your "condemning" look really arrogant and well... "American"... at its worst.
Posted by: wack | July 4, 2008 5:44 PM
"Islamic extremists are far worse then anything in the middle ages"
You should learn about History before you talk about it, you would then realize that what you're saying is just... wrong.
Posted by: wack | July 4, 2008 5:47 PM
It's disgusting! I happen to be an Iranian living in Iran running my music website. I think you should elicit Yahoo! from the block-list but you can add millions of other websites like YouTube,MySpace(all social communities), PhotoBucket, Pitchfork, Stereogum, DailyMotion as well as all the lyrics websites and all those either related or not related material!! You can't believe if I tell you they have blocked the stationery options for yahoo mail! Out of every 5 websites I'm surfing, 3 is blocked! I wanted to write the URL of my music blog but I guess I should be careful! These murderers are against every possible thing that makes a man happy! Everything we come to touch is prohibited!
Posted by: Pedram | July 4, 2008 9:39 PM
The people of Iran should stand shoulder and shoulder with the citizens of the US and the free world to oppose this barbaric effort by a government's attempt to suffocate the freedom and rights of its citizens. Here is a great blog post to read about the US Independence Day from my blogger friend in New Zealand.
Happy July 4th!
The blog post highlighted of what it meant to be free as an individual from the oppression of a government exactly as the founding fathers of the US wrote in the declaration, ie, to protect the individual rights from the behemoth of the government.
Posted by: Falafulu Fisi | July 4, 2008 10:30 PM
ايران
Posted by: hassan | July 4, 2008 10:43 PM
READ THE HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!
READ THE HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
READ THE HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
READ THE HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
READ THE HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
READ THE HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
READ THE HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: mina | July 4, 2008 10:55 PM
I am an Iranian guy and I have a blog myself. Unfortunately, I hadn't dare to publish anything except IT and Tech entries in my site. Although my website is quite popular these days however this self-censorship makes me angry. I want to have right to express my opinion about everything from politics to religion or my emotions but it's impossible! I really may lose my social position or even worse: be executed!
Posted by: Riti | July 4, 2008 10:58 PM
The Iranian government sounds like some something out of the middle ages trying to apply its utterly backwards values to the modern age. It's pretty appalling what these @#$@heads do to their own people.
I want to punch them all.
Posted by: Steve Boyd | July 5, 2008 3:21 AM
"3-26-76" might be the solution. That's a secret, keep it in mind!
Posted by: Amir | July 5, 2008 4:00 AM
Iran wants to kills all bloggers.
Iran wants to kill freedome of speech.
Iran wants to kill Israel and all Israelis.
Israel = 100% freedome of speech, free blogging and free blogosphere, freedom to be gay, freedom to be lesbian, freedom to do (almost) whatever you want.
Israel = the most advanced legislation about blogs, freedom of speech, freedom of press. After Canada and some other countries, the most advacned Gay rights.
So who are the bad guys? and who are the good guys?
At the end of the day, you have to choose if you are willing to fight for your freedom.
Posted by: Ben | July 5, 2008 4:51 AM
Free in Iswael, as long as you weren´t born a palestinian
Posted by: roy | July 5, 2008 5:28 AM
Ben Kepes: Uhm.. the crusades were hundreds of years ago, this idiotic barbarity is happening NOW. That's not xenophobic to point out (and who cares if it is - xenophobia is a far lesser crime than killing people in the name of a religion).
Posted by: Jonny C | July 5, 2008 6:05 AM
Marshall, thanks for highlighting this. I wouldn't be surprised if your post was responsible for ours hitting Techmeme. I agree with one of your 'guests,' the Iranian people are fantastic - smart, argumentative, passionate. They deserve an unfettered blogosphere.
Posted by: Curt | July 5, 2008 8:02 AM
Swensonia Inc. embraces the spirit of the Persian Bloggers and beg the Western populace to study the history of American and British imperialistic turkey-basting injections into that country and the surrounding region. Research the exploits of the Brit petroleum industry, the American fear machine and Kermit Roosevelt and you will understand WHY AND HOW the Americans and British are PRIMARILY responsible for the rise of Islamic Fundamentalism in Iran. It's all historical fact and it is almost impossible to refute. The only reason why you might not know about the FACTS are because they were not exposed to you. When most hisotrians (right and left) are confronted with these facts, they don't deny them. They change the subject. It's mind boggling. One of several great and highly-respected tomes on the subject is _All the Shah's Men_ by Stephen Kinzer. READ IT or do your own research via your own sources. If you research what that which was NEVER exposed to you during the Hostage Crisis or subsequently via the US Media (those frackin' ignorant...) you will be amazed. I don't care if you are a leftist, a rightist or an "independent" I swear you will feel compelled to dig deeper and you will ask yourself why FOX, CNN, NBC, ABC, CBN and/or the 700 Club doesn't address this essential history. THE AMERICANS AND THE BRITISH DID IT. This applies to Iran AND Iraq. Don't be fooled again.
-- Eric Swenson, President, Swensonia Consulting
Posted by: Eric Swenson | July 5, 2008 12:31 PM
Sorry as an Iranian whom hate this government like most other Iranians I must mention few points here:
There are a group of gangster whom raping womens, make video their brutal action and upload them inside their weblog,
Also inside Metros and other crowded urban environments some people send these videos via blue tooth to each other. This causes a really bad impression inside society therefore parliaments start to design a rule against these kind of criminals, so it is good chance for Mullahs to inject their fundamentalist ideas there, it is not a Rule yet and will not be a Rule it is just a suggestion from few of the Ahamadinejad oriented delegates in parliament. I'm not against western medias but I think really some of them looking for a chance to insult Iranians. Believe me that nobody inside Iran like this government and Mullahs, but your way of treating our news, is absolutely wrong.
Posted by: Reza R | July 5, 2008 1:48 PM
"We want to offer our support to the new generation of Iranian young people struggling for freedom online and elsewhere, in any way we can, short of a US invasion of the country."
I'd personally like to offer my support, including a US invasion of the country.
Posted by: Aaron | July 5, 2008 1:56 PM
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