On Wednesday, Iranian members of parliament voted to discuss a draft bill that seeks to “toughen punishment for disturbing mental security in society.” The text of the bill would add, “establishing websites and weblogs promoting corruption, prostitution and apostasy,” to the list of crimes punishable by death.
In recent years, some Iranian bloggers have been sent to jail and many have had their sites filtered. If the Iranian parliament approves this draft bill, bloggers fear they could be legally executed as criminals. No one has defined what it means to “disturb mental security in society”.
Such discussion concerning blogs has not been unique to Iran. It shows that many authorities do not only wish to filter blogs, but also to eliminate bloggers!
A state policy to control blogs
About a year and a half ago, the Iranian government demanded that bloggers should register and provide their names and addresses on a site called Samandehi. Many people believed such a process would facilitate legal action against them.
Bloggers resisted and many published an “I do not register my blog/site” banner on their blogs. The Government then realised it cannot have real control of the situation, or force bloggers to register.
In the footsteps of Yemen?
Unfortunately, the Iranian case is not unique to the Middle East and to the world. In April, MidEastYouth talked about new repressive measures adopted by Yemen, quoting Walid Al-Saqaf, YemenPortal.net's administrator:
“This week, the government’s Minister of Information threatened to file lawsuits against news websites on the justification of ‘inciting hatred’ or ‘harming national interests’ and the other usual excuse they often use to prosecute journalists. The threat is even more severe for websites because the government would use the penal code instead of the press law. This means that website owners could receive even death penalties.”
“Don’t be upset, we'll execute you legally”
Nikahang, a leading Iranian online cartoonist and blogger, says [Fa]:
if this draft bill becomes law, everything will be based on interpretation and a simple blogger will be considered a center to destroy people’s religion! What can I say? Only people who disturb people’s mental security could support such a thing.
Mirza Kasra Bakhtyari writes [Fa] that Ali Larijani, the Iranian Parliament's President, supported discussing this draft bill and added that they have talked for hours with the Judiciary about it.
Ghomarashegahneh says [Fa]:
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.
The blogger adds that the real causes of mental security problems are the economic crisis and repressive government policies.
Bazri warns [Fa]: “We should do our best to stop members of parliament from approving this draft bill. Tomorrow it will be too late. It is easy to accuse a blogger of apostasy and corruption. Let's tell the Parliament that to think differently is not a crime that should be punishable by death.”
Balocuh has published a cartoon where a cleric tells a woman about to be executed: “Don’t be upset, we'll execute you legally.”
Nikahang, a leading cartoonist and blogger, has published another cartoon where Ali Larijani,parliament speaker, is “executing a blogger.”
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Chris Salzberg319 posts 
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[...] at Global Voices, Hamid Tehrani writes: On Wednesday, Iranian members of parliament voted to discuss a draft bill that seeks to “toughen [...]
[...] at Global Voices, Hamid Tehrani writes: On Wednesday, Iranian members of parliament voted to discuss a draft bill that seeks to “toughen [...]
I have been very impressed with the dramatic growth and vibrancy of the Farsi blogosphere, making it one of the top languages preferred by bloggers.
While I can understand the paranoia of the Iranian government based on the aggressive US efforts to destabilize it, I still think the Mullahs need to weigh the risks carefully.
The blogosphere provides a natural outlet for Iran’s restive youths who feel repressed by the Mullahs. Any draconian measures to control it would amount to shutting off the safety valve in society, raising the possibility of a violent outburst.
[...] Tehrani at Global Voices described the proposed Iranian law on the fourth of July: On Wednesday, Iranian members of [...]
[...] voices reports that the Iranian parliament discussed new laws that “toughen punishment for disturbing mental security in [...]
[...] Bloggers resisted and many published an “I do not register my blog/site” banner on their blogs. The Government then realised it cannot have real control of the situation, or force bloggers to register. … (Source) [...]
[...] often very liberal Iranian parliament is debating whether or not to add blogging to their list of offenses punishable by death. That’s right: if the measure goes through, Iranian bloggers who write about something the [...]
[...] Blogging is a major flash-point for this new legislation. One blogger/cartoonist created this cartoon (the title of this post is the translation): [...]
[...] Hamid Tehrani wrote on Global Voices: On Wednesday, Iranian members of parliament voted to discuss a draft bill that seeks to “toughen punishment for disturbing mental security in society.” The text of the bill would add, “establishing websites and weblogs promoting corruption, prostitution and apostasy,” to the list of crimes punishable by death. [...]
[...] האיראני דן בימים אלו בהצעת חוק שתקבע עונש מוות לבלוגרים שישחית… או יפגעו בריבונות המדינה; על פי הצעת החוק “הענישה [...]
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[...] Doxaliber (guardate i link alla fine), sta per conoscere una nuova incredibile escalation. Secondo Global Voices il parlamento iraniano starebbe discutendo una proposta di legge che prevederebbe: pene maggiorate [...]
[...] über den Iran und aktuelle Gesetzesentwicklungen, zum Umgang mit kritischer Öffentlichkeit: Iran: Death Penalty for Blogging?. Eine deutsche Übersetzung des Beitrags von Clemens Harten findet sich in der ReadersEdtion: Iran: [...]
[...] Global Voices Online » Iran: Death Penalty for Blogging? — Cripes, this material just keeps on coming. On Wednesday, Iranian members of parliament voted to discuss a draft bill that seeks to “toughen punishment for disturbing mental security in society.” The text of the bill would add, “establishing websites and weblogs promoting corruption, prostitution and apostasy,” to the list of crimes punishable by death. [...]
[...] On Wednesday, Iranian members of parliament voted to discuss a draft bill that seeks to “toughen punishment for disturbing mental security in society.” The text of the bill would add, “establishing websites and weblogs promoting corruption, prostitution and apostasy,” to the list of crimes punishable by death…(Global Voices Online) [...]
[...] least we don’t live in a world where a bus-spotting hobby marks you a pedophile or blogging can command the death penalty - nevermind, we do. I vote BoingBoing to take care of these injustices - they’ve got [...]
[...] Global Voices Online » Iran: Death Penalty for Blogging? — Cripes, this material just keeps on coming. [...]
[...] Tehrani at Global Voices Online (Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan) reports on Iran’s parliament voting to discuss a draft bill that would make, “establishing websites and weblogs promoting corruption, prostitution and [...]
[...] nothing quite like this kind of story, where the risk of blogging brings with it death, to rock you back on your heals enough to [...]
[...] is the unpleasant bit of news from ‘Global Voices’, and another from ‘Daily Tech’ (this one includes the original cartoon), Khaleej Times [...]
Iran: Death Penalty for Blogging? (Global Voices)…
“On Wednesday, Iranian members of parliament voted to discuss a draft bill that seeks to “toughen punishment for disturbing mental security in society.” The text of the bill would add, “establishing websites and weblogs promoting corruption, pro…
But who can tell Iranian government that they are wrong? Can international community do something to save our brothers-bloggers from prosecution? As small, as we can do, please support the case, whenever you can, wherever you go!
[...] Yemen - and, unfortunately, perhaps in Iran - this penalty could be [...]
Death Penalty for Blogging?…
On Wednesday, Iranian members of parliament voted to discuss a draft bill that seeks to “toughen punishment for disturbing mental security in society.”…
it seems iran executed a blogger, i read in rottengods.com
First executed Iranian blogger: Yaghoob Mehrnehad
http://www.rottengods.com/2008/08/yaghoob-mehrnehad-first-executed.html
Dear David,
Mehrnehad’s case had nothing to do with his blog.
[...] speech). Is it just a coincidence that a double execution was undertaken just one day after Global Voices highlighted a draft bill seeking to “toughen punishment for disturbing mental security in [...]
[...] free speech). Is it just a coincidence that a double execution was undertaken just one day after Global Voices highlighted a draft bill seeking to toughen punishment for disturbing mental security in society [...]
[...] last week Iranian members of parliament announced a draft bill that aims to “toughen punishment for disturbing mental security in [...]