Death to All Offensive Bloggers
First off, let me say that the title "Death to All Offensive Bloggers" does not refer to a new Obama Administration Executive Order requiring that all right-wing bloggers be publicly executed. No, I'm talking about Iran's new push to include the death penalty for bloggers who write about or promote illegal activities, such as apostasy, prostitution, etc.
Offensive blogging would now be included under their Fasad laws. Fasad in Arabic is translated as "mischief" although it is more akin to our notion of "felony" which includes such crimes as extortion, drug trafficking, rape, kidnapping and fraud. Asking someone to convert to another religion (other than Islam) is not yet a crime in America (we don't have enough Muslims - at this time) but in Islamic countries one will be arrested as a fasadi for proselytizing.
Here is the caption for the following YouTube video:
The number of state-sanctioned executions almost doubled last year.
A report by Amnesty International shows Iran, Saudi Arabia and China as being responsible for 90 per cent of all executions in 2008.
Now, Iran is proposing a new law that could see the death sentence imposed on internet bloggers who post offensive material on the web.
Al Jazeera's Nazanin Sadri reports.
It should be noted that executing bloggers who disagree with the government may seem extreme but Iran didn't get to this position all at once. First it started with simple censorship and harassment of bloggers, somewhat similar to what Liberals in our Congress wish to do with conservative radio talk show hosts. When Republicans ruled Congress the idea was quashed, but now with the Obamamites in power, who knows?
The Hill, 29 Jun 2007, House votes to ban FCC on ‘fairness’
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said on Tuesday that the government should revive the Fairness Doctrine, a policy crafted in 1929 that required broadcasters to balance political content with different points of view.
“It’s time to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine,” he said. “I have this old-fashioned attitude that when Americans hear both sides of the story, they’re in a better position to make a decision.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee, said this week that she would review the constitutional and legal issues involved in re-establishing the doctrine.
Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), the Democratic Party’s 2004 presidential nominee, also said recently that the Fairness Doctrine should return.
Related:
Radio Free Europe, 19 Mar 2009, Suspicion Cast On Iranian Blogger's Death
An Iranian blogger sent to Tehran's infamous Evin prison last month for allegedly insulting Iran's religious leaders and agitating against the government has died under questionable circumstances.
Omidreza Mirsayafi had consistently denied the charges against him, saying his blog posts were not political in nature, while relatives and a fellow inmate are casting doubt on the official cause of death.
Prison authorities have notified Mirsayafi's family that he committed suicide on March 18 by overdosing on sedative tables.
But while Mirsayafi was known to have taken such medication to treat depression, his sister says he would not have possessed enough to kill himself.
Masoumeh Mirsayafi tells RFE/RL's Radio Farda that the official explanation for her 25-year-old brother's death is very suspicious.
They ignored the doctor and said Mirsayafi was faking his illness. The doctor said, 'his heartbeat is 40 per minute, you can't fake that.'"I even asked him a few days ago how often he took the tablets. He told me: 'every morning and evening, when it is time to take the tablets, we ask the prison clinic and they give us our tablets.' I find it hard to believe how he had [so many] tablets as to commit suicide by overdose," Mirsayafi says.
A fellow inmate has also cast doubt on the official version of events, Omidreza Mirsayafi's lawyer tells RFE/RL's Radio Farda.
Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, who represented the blogger, claims that a doctor imprisoned at Evin named Hesem Firozi told him the death could be attributed entirely to the prison's failure to provide Mirsayafi with proper medical assistance.
More at the Committee to Protect Bloggers.
