Pretty please
The
Canadian authorities are demanding consular access to a Iranian-Canadian
blogger who has been arrested in Iran for saying nasty things about the
Shiite authorities.
The Canadians have been trying to get access to
Hossein Derakhshan in Iran without much joy. His blog has not been updated
since October 30. The Iranian judiciary confirmed that Derakhshan is under
arrest over remarks he allegedly made about key figures of the Shiite
faith.
He is being held while the case is investigated with is a polite
way of saying we are holding him without trial. Derakhshan lives in
Canada but was arrested when he visited Iran in November. A conservative
Iranian website said in November that Derakhshan had been arrested
on suspicion of spying for Israel which is a polite way of saying we
are holding him without trial because we don't like him much.
Derakhshan
is known as the "father" of Iranian blogging, he sparked a
blogging revolution in the Islamic republic by posting precise instructions
in 2001 on how to set up Farsi blogs.
He has visited Israel
using his Canadian passport in 2006 and chronicled his experience on
his Persian and English blogs, saying he sought to show Israelis
and Iranians a different image of each country.