Seven young activists have been detained for more than one year by the Syrian authorities for being part of an independent pro-democracy discussion group and publishing articles on the Internet criticizing the lack of democracy and freedom in Syria. Some of them were also involved in the creation of an online youth forum. [...] They could face up to 15 years in prison.You can send a letter to Syrian officials protesting their conditions. I am not sure how effective this is, but it's something.
This sounds very much like the situation in Iran. Given the similarities, I wonder if they also have their apologists, (pseudo-)intellectuals and apeasers in the West who would procliam all this inhumanity is either necessary for a greater good or plain non-existent?
Hossein Derakhshan the "LIberal" Iranian Blogger Is Looking to Get Jailed Iranian-American Academics Hanged
ReplyDeleteWestern liberals pride themselves on promoting individuals in countries like Iran who while part of the ruling system present themselves as human rights activists/dissenters. In many cases these individuals are agitprop working on behalf of the ruling government.
Case in point is Hossien Derakhshan. He has been riding the liberal bandwagon throughout the West for the past 5 years posing as an independent thinker from Iran, one representing the "moderate elements" in the Islamic Republic. He has a Guardian column and has carried out a number of interviews on behalf of the BBC and a range of US Media outlets.
His Guardian Column is Here
http://commentisfree.guardian.co...ein_derakhshan/
Derakhshan is a fraud. Any Iranian reader of his blog knows this. He comes from a family of Mullahs and is a supporter of the Islamic regime.
On June 11 2007 Derakhshan posted an account on his blog in which he falsely tries to implicate Ali Shakeri one of the 4 Iranian-Americans held by the Islamic Security Services in Iran as a spy/regime opponent.
http://hoder.com/weblog/archives...es/ 016112.shtml
Doing this at a time when all four are on charges that carry the threat of the death penalty is beyond the pale.
Derakhshan has a history of doing abusing real Iranian activists, bloggers and journalist using the platform that liberal Media have afforded him:
Derakhshan Article Cut the Bias
http:// commentisfree.guardian.co...t_the_bias.html
Meanwhile the lives of 4 real activists is in the balance. Have a look at the website for one of them
http://www.freehaleh.org/
and if you really want to help a democratic Iran sign the petition on haleh’s website and boycott Derakhshan's media apperences and events.