Bobbie Johnson, San Francisco
guardian.co.uk, Monday 9 November 2009 08.29 GMT
Freedom of speech campaigners are railing against the repression of
bloggers around the world, following claims by a prominent Cuban
dissident that she was beaten up for her online activities.
Yoani Sánchez, an author and blogger who has forged a reputation as a
critical voice against the Castro government, said over the weekend that
she and other bloggers had been attacked in Havana in what she called a
"gangland style kidnapping".
The incident caused outrage online, but according to advocacy campaign
Threatened Voices - which launched last week to highlight cases of
internet suppression worldwide - such a move was "only a matter of time"
as regimes around the world lash out at web-based critics.
The news came just a week after supporters of Iranian-Canadian blogger
Hossein Derakhshan marked the first anniversary of his incarceration in
an Iranian jail, on charges of spying for Israel.
Blogging is now extremely popular in Iran, but Derakhshan - who is known
online as Hoder - was one of the earliest to take up the technology, and
is largely seen as instrumental in encouraging Farsi bloggers.
A crackdown on internet dissidents and journalists is currently underway
in Tehran, with press freedom organisations campaigning on behalf of
those affected.
"Journalists are still being kidnapped or arrested illegally in Iran,"
said a spokeswoman for Reporters Sans Frontieres. "At least 100
journalists and cyber-dissidents have been arrested in the past 145 days
- since the 12 June presidential election - and 23 of them are still
being held."
According to Threatened Voices, the five governments that rank as the
worst offenders against freedom of speech online are China, Egypt, Iran,
Tunisia and Syria, while bloggers in the US, Canada and Europe have also
faced arrest and potential imprisonment for breaking the law.
Last month eight Vietnamese bloggers were given sentences ranging from
two to six years for posting criticisms of the government online, while
three internet users in Thailand were arrested last week for writing
that the king was in poor health, which they suggested would have an
impact on the country's stock market.
Cuban crackdown part of worldwide attack on internet dissidents |
Technology | guardian.co.uk (9 November 2009)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/09/blogging-freedom-of-speech
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