30th September 2010
Blogging and Freedom of Expression
No, Bolivian readers, I am not commenting on the new Law against Racism. The debate around that law does indeed show just how sensitive is the issue of freedom of expression, and how careful legislators must be when drafting laws that might impact upon what is a critical tenet of democracy.
Instead, I want to talk about a blogger who, for doing what I am doing now – expressing his opinions – was on 27 September sentenced to 19 and a half years in prison, banned from journalistic activities for a further 5 years, and fined $40,000.
His name is Hossein Derakhshan, a dual Canadian-Iranian national, and he lives in Iran. He was one of the first and most active of Iranian bloggers, whose work had a wide readership in Iran and across the globe. His conviction was for collaborating with enemy states (an accusation often used against those the regime wish to silence), propaganda against the Islamic Republic, propaganda in support of counter-revolutionary groups, “insulting what is holy” and creating immoral websites. He can appeal against the verdict.
Reporters sans Frontieres said it was “outraged” and called the sentence “unprecedented”. 13 bloggers were imprisoned in Iran as of March this year. A further 170 Journalists have been arrested in Iran since June 2009.
Liberty of expression is a precious, hard-won right in countries like the United Kingdom and Bolivia. We take it for granted. But there are too many countries like Iran where, still, expressing your opinions remains a dangerous thing to do.