Archive for
July 5th, 2005
Stories
Threats against Afghan blogger
“Sohrab Kabuli“, Afghan blogger and winner of the Freedom Blog Award for his Farsi blog, Shared Pains, has been getting death threats. (You can read an interview with him about his blog and its impact here.)
Kabuli, who blogs in English as Afghan Lord under a pseudonym in order to protect himself, has received numerous threats posted to his blog from the same IP address which belongs - shockingly - to the BBC. One of them, which Kabuli emailed to Global Voices, asks: “Do you think I do not know you?” Then it continues on to threaten: “There were a number of people like you, who did not remain alive. They were all buried in graves. You have to be taken off from this land so that better human beings could take your place. For, you are dirty.”
The message, posted in the comments section of his blog, was written anonymously and posted from a computer with the IP address 132.185.144.120, which, according to a WHOIS query, belongs to BBC Internet Services Operations.
Upon checking his archives, Kabuli discovered that a previous comment posted by a BBC Afghan Service reporter came from the very same IP address. Kabuli believes that the threats were posted by that person. (It must be noted, however, that it is technically possible that the threats could have been posted by a different person using the same computer.)
In a letter to several human rights organizations, Kabuli writes (excerpt):
Recently I wrote a critical article that B.B.C reporter committed mistake while the three United Nation workers kidnapped in Kabul/Afghanistan four months before. After that, recently I am receiving threat messages from B.B.C Afghanistan staff. He threatens me to reveal my real name. I do not know what reason has provoked him to do this.
My Blog has selected the the Blog Prize Winner which defended from Freedom of expression in RSF . My blog http://kabul2.blogsky.com “Shared Pains” is selected from Africa and the Middle East among seven others around the world. You can read more here in B.B.C homepage and in RSF.
Recently one of the B.B.C reporters send me an email and asked me to write him about my blog, they want to publish in their Farsi website. But they did not published I send an email and asked him what was the reason that you got the information but you did not publish? He denied answering.
I wrote some critical articale about security and Karzai's goverment. I was receiving threat messages from unknown people which were asking me to stop writing.
I have two friends they told me that some people asked them that you are Sohrab Kabuli. It would not be dangerous only for my safety but for two others too.
I sent a message to Behrouz Afagh Head of the Eurasia Region, BBC World Service and asked him to ask his colleague to stop threats and cursing.
…He uses a false name “meshnasamat” (in Farsi) in English: (I know you).
I deleted most of his message but his two messages are still in my Blog so you can go and see what he has written. …
(For full text of several of the threatening posts, see below.)
In response to my queries to the BBC about this disturbing situation for Mr. Kabuli, I received the following statement:
“The BBC is treating the allegations seriously. We are conducting an urgent investigation both in London and in Kabul to ascertain whether the e-mails came from the BBC. We are clear that such a communication would be unacceptable if they came from any BBC staff member and contravene BBC guidelines. We will communicate the results of our investigation as soon as we have any reliable information.”
Read on for the full text of the threats received by Kabuli.
Sohrab Kabuli: Afghan blogger
Global Voices Online continues to bring you interviews with winners of the Reporters Without Borders Freedom Blog Awards. This week we bring you an interview with Sohrab Kabuli (not his real name), author of two blogs: Shared Pains in Farsi and Afghan Lord in English.
Kabuli answered questions via e-mail rather than by voice due to security concerns. He says he must maintain anonymity for safety reasons. Recently he received threats which, bizarrely, came from an IP address associated with a BBC server. More on that in the next post. In this post, I'd like to keep the focus on why he blogs and what he blogs about - which, in the long run, is the most important thing. According to Kabuli, Shared Pains now has more daily readers than many Afghan newspapers. It is increasingly influential - and clearly making some people uncomfortable.
Here are Kabuli's answers to the questions I emailed him last week. They are reproduced here in the un-edited original:
Q: Can you tell us whatever is possible about who you are and what you do for a living?
A: Thanks much for making this opportunity. I am 22 year old, my name is sohrab kabuli, and I am graduated from high school. I born in Kabul and living in Kabul. Beside of writing some articles to news magazine I am writing on the web to my English blog and Farsi Blog.
Q: Why did you start your blog?
Before start blogging I was working with a local weekly which shut down soon due to financial problem. I was trying to get fund for an independent weekly to run in Kabul. I gave some request to some NGOs but did not receive response. Soon, I let down and changed my mind to have a website. After assessment I realized that for a Website I need more than 600$ U.S dollar to setup. So, I was looking to find another way. Finally I found blog. It was a miracle that I entered to this society.
Q: What do you mainly write about, and how often do you post?
A: Mostly critical articles about political and social life in Afghanistan, foreign strategies in Afghanistan, daily reports of happening in Kabul and remote areas, some times involving to literature; poem and critics. Regularly giving the latest news link from English news websites and news agencies plus describing and translating. I am posting daily and some times one day in middle.
Q: Who reads it?
A: As you know three countries are talking in Farsi: Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan. From these three country I have reader. Unfortunately from Afghanistan I have not much reader because there is no Internet. First we do not have power, if we have that is only for a specific part of Kabul not for all. Second people don’t know much computer to use Internet. A few Internet cafés are running in different part of the city I am sure they do not have enough customers. The rate is so high for example per hour they take 100Afg = 2$ u.s dollar. A person who doesn’t have a penny outcome daily how can he pay this amount? Live is very difficult here. People are in struggle to safe their life from hunger. If you come in Kabul to see in the streets, hundreds of people are laying on the street for begging. International countries gave fund to NGOs and NGOs are belong to warlord who were killing the innocent people yesterday but today they run NGOs by help of foreign money.
Links for Tue, 2005-07
Jeff Barry offers an in-depth reflection on the death of 194 young Argentinians who were caught inside the concert venue Cromagnon as it caught fire on December 30, 2004.
Blog de Viajes links to Argentinian tourism statistics for the year 2004 [es] and then questions if Latin America can quicken its pace in promoting tourism [es] and stop slipping behind the rest of the world.
Argenautas implores fellow ex-pat Argentinians to leave a message on Live 8 List [es] and generates some controversy with a message blaming IMF policy for Argentina's poverty.
Barrio Flores and MABB both write on the Bolivian Congresses agreement to hold general elections on December 4th. Meanwhile, Blog de Bolivia announces a return to regular commentary [es].
Fernando Flores has an excellent (though not complete) list of Latin American blog directories [es]. These (and others) will be added to the Bridge Blog Index soon.
VCRISIS features an article by Marta Colomina comparing Venezuela's Military Intelligence with Pinochet's DINA in Chile during the 1970's and 80's.
Matt Lawrence of Havana Journal writes on the House's decision to block efforts to ease U.S. sanctions against Cuba.
Don Xavier writes up a thorough summary of Ecuablogs 2005[es], which appears to have been a much more formal event compared to other blogger meetups. Complete with links to videos of the conference.
Eduardo Arcos complains of tag spam [es] and asks how to convert a Movable Type blog into Spanish [es] (surprisingly, it appears there is no documentation to be found).
Timbuktu Chronicles passes on some interesting information about a virtual marketplace, enabled by the use of cellphones.
Andrew Heavens of Meskel Square interviews two Addis Ababa university students about Live 8.
Africa Vox is a group blog by African journalists who are covering the G8 summit this year. Via Kenya Pundit.
The BBC has a good roundup of African blog reaction to Live 8; faithful readers of Global Voices Online will note that much of the coverage echoes our own Ethan Zuckerman's ongoing coverage of the same event.
There's a new Lesotho blog directory on the web.
Black Looks laments the fact that W8, a conference about women's rights in Africa, was barely noticed in the mainstream press last week.
This is Zimbabwe posts an article about how the forex market works in Zimbabwe.
Danwei reports that a state-owned film company's website has been blocked inside China… because they failed to register the site with the Ministry of Information Industries.
Fons Tuinstra writes about a Chinese-language group blog that's translating articles from English into Chinese.
The Sassy Lawyer announces that she's started writing a regular, dead-tree newspaper column for the Manila Standard. Why? It's simple, she says: “Now I am ready to reach out to the 95 percent of the Filipino population without access to the internet.”
Singabloodypore points to an on-line article that suggests that Lee Kuan Yew should start blogging.
Photograph by Vernon Fowler
Rohit Gupta, writing in Chien(ne)s Sans Frontieres, is frustrated by writers of Indian decent who've never lived in India calling themselves “Indian writers”; he's delighted to to read an interview with Rana Dasgupta, who refuses to call himself an Indian writer even though he lives there now.
Youth Curry on how asking questions out of left field tests school applicants' ability to think on their feet.
The Big Pharaoh uncovers the link between Egyptian tomato exports and Secretary of State Rice's calls for reform in Egypt.
At Iran Scan, Hoder notes that the election of Ahmedinejad has been a godsend for Iranian cartoonists.
Ali of Free Iraqi explains what “independence” means for him.
SubZero Blue brings us the tale of a Tunisian writer who's in the middle of a 10-year walk through the Arab nations.
Ben Paarmann is adventuring through the Kazakh immigration bureaucracy, in search of the elusive multi-entry visa.
Alan Cordova points out that, as it transitions from a Soviet state to an independent nation, Kazakhstan isn't just trying to decide between a common law system or a civil law system; they're struggling with what the meaning of ‘law' is.
Photograph by Larry Tweed
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