THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VII, Issue # 252, November 20, 2005
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
DISSIDENT WATCH: IRAN'S ARASH SIGARCHI
By Rachel Hoff
ARASH SIGARCHI: IRANIAN DISSIDENT, WEBLOGGER, CRITIC OF THE SOCALLED "ISLAMIC REPUBLIC," & ADVOCATE OF
FREEDOM & DEMOCRACY -- THE IRANIAN POLITICAL REGIME'S CONTINUING EFFORT TO SUPPRESS & SILENCE SIGARCHI & OTHER
DISSIDENTS USING THE INTERNET TO VOICE CRITICISM OF & OPPOSITION TO THE OPPRESSIVE & TYRANNICAL RULE OF THE
AYATOLLAHS
FULL STORY:
On January 17, 2005, Iranian security forces arrested 28-year-old Iranian journalist and weblogger Arash Sigarchi for espionage and
insulting leaders of the socalled "Islamic Republic." Sigarchi, Editor of the daily Gilan Emrooz (Gilan [1] Today), had antagonized
regime officials with outspoken dissent on two blogs, Panjareh-yi Eltehab (Window of Anguish) to which he was a regular contributor,
as well as his own blog, http://www.sigarchi.com/blog.
Sigarchi was aware of the dangers of his actions. His posts chronicled the arrests of fellow bloggers. He spoke out against the abuse
of two fellow bloggers, Shahram Rafihzadeh and Rozbeh Mir Ebrahimi. In 2004, Iranian authorities arrested and beat more than twenty
other blogging dissidents. Sigarchi had himself been harassed by the police, who detained him for several days in August, 2004, after
he posted online an article with photos of a dissident rally in Tehran. [2]
Nevertheless, Iranian dissidents are increasingly penning blogs to voice criticism of the Islamic Republic and to push for freedom and
democracy. With an estimated 100,000 active Iranian blogs, Persian is now tied with French as the second most common blogging
language after English. [3]
Sigarchi's most recent arrest coincided with an Iranian government crackdown on blogging. Sa‘id Mortazavi, Tehran's chief prosecutor,
ordered Internet service providers to block access to several blogs including Sigarchi's site. [4]
On February 22, a revolutionary tribunal in Gilan sentenced Sigarchi to fourteen years in prison. [5] On March 18, a court in the
provincial capital of Rasht released Sigarchi on bail, pending an appeal. However, four other prominent Iranian bloggers and web
journalists — Mojtaba Saminejad, Najmeh Omidparvar, Mohammad Reza Nasab Abdolahi, and Mojtaba Lotfi — remain in prison. [6]
Blogging has revolutionized dissent in Iran. By providing private citizens a public voice, blogs may be the most powerful tool in the
dissidents' arsenal. As an Iranian blogger known as Saena wrote, "Weblogs are one weapon that even the Islamic Republic cannot
beat." [7] As the cases of Arash Sigarchi and other imprisoned bloggers show, though, the Iranian regime is trying to crush these new
outlets of democratic dissent. Throughout the Middle East, the race is on between journalists opening new websites and regimes, such
as that of the Islamic Republic, trying to censor cyberspace. While Western governments have a stake in the bloggers' success, neither
the U.S. White House nor the U.S. State Department have spoken out publicly in support of Sigarchi and his colleagues.
NOTES:
[1] Gilan is a province in northwestern Iran, bordering the Caspian Sea.
[2] BBC Monitoring World Media, Jan. 21, 2005.
[3] Time Magazine, May 9, 2005.
[4] BBC Monitoring World Media, Jan. 21, 2005.
[5] BBC Monitoring Middle East, Feb. 23, 2005.
[6] BBC Monitoring World Media, Mar. 18, 2005.
[7] Time Magazine, May 9, 2005.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
The Middle East & the Problem of Iran
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Rachel Hoff is a research assistant at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.
Rachel Hoff's article was originally published in the Middle East Quarterly, Fall, 2005, and can be found on
the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum.
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
November 20, 2005
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