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"Don’t be upset, we’ll execute you legally."  (Source: Abdol-Qader Balouch/Global Voice Online)
Iranian legislation seeks to K-line bloggers from the real world

A draft bill in the Iranian parliament is set to give bloggers the death penalty, if the government deems their writing as advocating corruption, prostitution, or desertion of Islam.

If so classified, bloggers will join those guilty of the above crimes in the real world to be branded as mohareb (an enemy of God) and “corrupt of the earth” – making him or her eligible for punishments ranging from exile, to amputations, to execution.

Further, if the bill becomes law, punishment bestowed by the system “cannot be commuted, suspended, or changed.”

Iranian bloggers and human rights activists fear the ease in which the government could casually accuse bloggers of offending the country’s strict interpretation of Islamic law.

Anti-censorship activist group Global Voice Online notes that about 18 months ago the Iranian government demanded bloggers register their websites, although the initiative failed to produce meaningful results. Bloggers widely considered registration as an enabler for future government suppression, and many proudly displayed an “I do not register my blog/site” badge in defiance of the mandate.

 “Mentioning ‘blogging’ among crimes such as kidnapping, raping, armed robbery makes accusing bloggers easier than before… Such a law will harm the mental security of society more than the poor bloggers, who do not know what awaits them,” said Iranian blogger Mojtaba Saminejad. According to a Wikipedia bio linked by his “About Me” page, Saminejad spent 21 months in an Iranian prison beginning in 2005, including an alleged 88 days of solitary confinement and torture, due to a 2004 post reporting the arrest of three other bloggers. His official charges listed Saminejad as having insulted Iran’s head of state and “endangering national security.”

Another Iranian blogger notes that Iranian Parliament president Ali Larijani said the bill was discussed for “hours” with the country’s Judiciary before a draft was settled. After the number of executions last year almost doubled, from 177 to 317 according to Amnesty International, the Iranian government said the punishment is not given casually, and results only after an extensive legal process.

A censored version of the internet sees wide use in Iran, and young, tech-savvy Iranians have joined the rest of the world in blogging about everything from menial personal gossip to obscenities and questioning the government. The Iranian government actively filters out content it considers obscene, including websites promoting pornography, heresy, or political dissent.

The Iranian government considers blogging a threat to "mental security," a doctrine that human rights advocates consider to be a scapegoat used in the government's historically oppressive policies. It joins a variety of other countries, including Yemen and China, in monitoring online expression for politically and morally sensitive material.

The draft bill still needs inspection from the Guardian Council, which ensures the bills’ adherence to the Iranian constitution and Islamic law, and then needs to be “rubber-stamped” by a conservative government watchdog before being made into law.

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Yes....
By FITCamaro on 7/8/2008 8:32:59 AM , Rating: 5
Such a peaceful people....

We don't like what you're saying....so we're just going to kill you.




RE: Yes....
By mdogs444 on 7/8/2008 8:58:57 AM , Rating: 3
Yes, peaceful indeed....much like their nuclear plan. Peaceful. ppssshhhhtt.


RE: Yes....
By MrPoletski on 7/8/2008 4:02:58 PM , Rating: 3
Until you produce some evidence otherwise, their nuclear program is peaceful.

If we are going to push freedom then you have to also push innocent until proven guilty.


RE: Yes....
By Ringold on 7/8/2008 4:13:26 PM , Rating: 3
The fact they're refining uranium the way that they are is evidence in itself, and they admit to the issue and turn down offers of civilian reactors that aren't capable of being used for weapon programs. There are reactor designs that can even use natural uranium.

At the moment, the ball is in their court to prove they have peaceful intentions, and they're just laughing maniacally in violation of UN mandates.


RE: Yes....
By MrBlastman on 7/8/2008 4:16:49 PM , Rating: 2
Well, I will agree innocent until proven guilty...

But, would you rather ignore them completely and act like nothing fishy is going on at all? We learned that this sort of attitude as practiced by Clinton in the 90's was detrimental to our society as a whole in the long run.

No, I'd rather us push for an investigation as to what is actually going on.


RE: Yes....
By Lerianis on 7/8/2008 4:41:41 PM , Rating: 4
There isn't anything really fishy going on YET. The enrichment of uranium that they are doing right now, is a step towards peaceful nuclear ambitions as well as nuclear weapons.
Now, there are some OTHER steps, that if the Iranians are doing them, that are only for nuclear weapons... but even then, Iran is only pursuing nuclear weapons because our 'Chimp in Chief' keeps on pissing them off at EVERY DAMN OPPORTUNITY and threatening them with invasion.
If I was Iran, in that situation...... I would damn well be trying to get nuclear weapons to, in all honesty. Heck, I would be trying to get things WORSE than nuclear weapons to dissuade the United States from invading my country.

We keep on having the BS put out that "Iran is dangerous if they get nuclear weapons!" They said the same exact things about: Russia, China, and a whole WIDE ASSORTMENT of other countries, and what happened when they got nukes? Absolutely nothing!
Now, some people will say "Iran is a radical Muslim regime! That makes them more dangerous!" No. It makes no more, and no less, dangerous than the radical Christians in OUR country.


RE: Yes....
By MrBlastman on 7/8/2008 4:56:49 PM , Rating: 3
So, you are saying that if we get rid of good ole' G Dubya, the Iranians will stop producing nuclear weapons?

They are only producing them because of our president?

I think you need to read your history books on the Middle East. The lust for power, domination and war has been in this region for thousands of years... Also, there is this other little country there known as Israel that all of the Islamic fundamentalists love to hate... Especially countries that are run by crazy fundamentalists. They've been pissed off with Israel since... umm, lets see - 1948. You also forget that Israel has nuclear weapons - quite a few actually (though they won't tell us this factually).

No, I don't think it is our fault that they want to pursue these means. I think there is far more below the surface such as Israel and their religious fanaticism that could be guiding them down this path.

You're right - fundamentalists... fundamentally are bad for any religion. Our Christian fundies are pretty darned extreme. So are Islamic fundies. The only difference is you don't see Christian fundies typically blowing themselves up in crowded areas in the name of Jesus... (there were some Abortion clinic shootings/bombings so us Christians aren't completely off the hook... don't forget the Olympic Park bombings too).

But, I think you aren't being fair when you say it is our fault they want nuclear weapons. No, I think it more has to do with their internal desire to have power, control, and - at least on a short-term basis, eliminate and destroy Israel.


RE: Yes....
By Nfarce on 7/8/2008 10:59:44 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Now, some people will say "Iran is a radical Muslim regime! That makes them more dangerous!" No. It makes no more, and no less, dangerous than the radical Christians in OUR country.


Hey asshat, I don't see "radical" Christians constantly threatening to wipe Iran off the map, unlike say Iran's constant threat to do just that to Israel. Idiots like you don't deserve the freedoms you have.


RE: Yes....
By Ryanman on 7/9/2008 2:40:50 AM , Rating: 2
Actually radical Christians regularly threaten to wipe the entire middle East off the map. They also threaten to wipe out homosexuals, Hispanics, drug users, atheists, and members of different christian denominations.

Get off your high horse. Every single religion has hateful people in it, and Christianity is one of the worst.


RE: Yes....
By thinkandbelieve on 7/9/2008 7:22:35 PM , Rating: 3
To see if any religion or creed have a good peaceful impact on humanity or not , you need to look for two important things. First what the text of that creed says and how it is interpreted by its patriarchs and second what did the leader and first believers seen as icons in that creed did in their life time. I have the privilege in studying both Christianity and Islam by their own scholars and I have big trouble labeling Islam as a peaceful religion “I studied that religion in its native Arabic language” but that is not why I am writing. When you look to the life and teaching of Jesus Christ there are tons of verses in the Bible that calls for peace and tolerance “Examples: forgive your enemies, blessed the peace makers, do not kill for whoever kill by the sword will be killed by the sword and so many other. Jesus and his disciples did not kill anybody or call for intolerance, on the other hand when a woman was brought to him that should be stoned to death by the Jewish law, he told the men whoever without sin could through the first stone. Freedom and Democracy is basically a Christian principle in the first place
Every time Muslims do a violent act, Christianity so ignorantly is pushed in the subject .It is totally superficial to put all creeds into one pot, it is like labeling all atheists as Hilters and Mussolinis for we have seen what an atheist would do when come to power, which I am sure not true. I am very Christian and I have very good atheist friends for example. It have become a tactic attacking Christianity by any way possible and the media is a perfect example. Please when you talk about religions do not generalize so ignorantly since there are huge differeneces between each and when you Judge it do not take only the bad apples that falsely claim they belong to that religion


RE: Yes....
By Ryanman on 7/10/2008 2:46:54 AM , Rating: 3
I actually didn't generalize:
quote:
radical Christians

was the term I used. I know there are millions of Christians who are apathetic about everything, and millions who are genuinely peaceful.
Christianity, as an offshoot of Judaism, was inherently violent too. See the Old Testament. Yahweh is/was a terrible, petty, and violent god. Please don't placate me by trying to say that the New Testament made up for it. The fact is, EVERY religion is like this. There's mixes of sex and violence along with the peace and love, which means anyone can interpret to their own means.


RE: Yes....
By thinkandbelieve on 7/10/2008 11:25:21 AM , Rating: 1
In the Old Testament, humanity did not see the salvation of Jesus and people were under the law. When Jesus come that ended and we became under his Grace. I do not want to go into details but what the above simply mean that all the virtues of forgiveness and peace taught by Jesus are the ones a true Christian should apply in his life . No interpretation according to what you want , no violence or anything like what you have said. Applying what some people who call themselves Christians as the standards of that religion without studying what it say or teach is very unfair


RE: Yes....
By P4blo on 7/9/2008 8:55:41 AM , Rating: 2
What complete rubbish. Bush may be a bit of a bible basher but to compare the influence religion has in places like the USA and Europe to that which it has in Iran is just crazy.

Are you forgetting about this article? They essentially want to legitimise the murder of those who oppose or resist indoctrination into their belief system. In the Bible did Jesus threaten, torture and hang people until they became his 'followers'? If religion started this way do you think it would even have gained sufficient ground? So these people are defecating all over the essence of what religion once stood for. Peace, education, forgiveness, tolerance and harmony. They're the worst kind of controlling hypocrites. Abuse of the Iranian people’s rights like this is just sick.

Perhaps we can hope that extremist religion will simply undo itself. This will probably never happen though if followers are garnered through brainwashing from birth as impressionable children or having a gun put to their head as adults.


RE: Yes....
By FaceMaster on 7/9/2008 5:59:18 AM , Rating: 1
...and America's nuclear program IS peaceful? Pet bombs or something? (YES I know that there are also nuclear power plants but I'm talking about BOMBS here. How can any country be worse than America when it comes to producing nuclear weapons?)


RE: Yes....
By MrBlastman on 7/9/2008 9:20:44 AM , Rating: 2
I guess you are ignoring the what was once USSR? :)

Most of our weapons are stockpiled from the cold war and we have been under treaty for many years to reduce our stockpiles - in fact, they have shrunk substantially from their height in 1964 (about 30,000 warheads), where the USSR reached the height of their stockpile in 1985 (about 45,000 warheads).

The only reason we produced so many is we were under intense pressure from Stalin (a maniac on the scale of Hitler - are you aware of how many of his own people he had murdered? How about the Cuban missle crisis?) and had to do something to curb his aggression.

It was in fact, a means towards peace. By mass producing such a large volume of warheads, their proliferation indeed prevented full-scale war due to the constant reminder over both nations heads that at the drop of a hat either country (or the world) could be destroyed in an instant.

No, it was not to conquer the world as some would mislead you to believe.


RE: Yes....
By FaceMaster on 7/10/2008 7:56:38 PM , Rating: 3
Give a child a gun and it's only a matter of time before they use it.

Fear is never the best way to prevent a war. In fact, by threatening countries to stop inventing nuclear weapons it's only making them more desperate to finish them so that America stops pestering them.

I'll admit that perhaps Stalin was some kind of maniac, though you would say that as I assume that you're American. It takes two to argue!


RE: Yes....