Temporary Release for Jailed Iranian-Canadian Blogfather

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hoder/367505933/

Hossein "Hoder" Derakhshan, credited with starting the Persian blogolution in 2008 got a three-day release from the Iranian prison he's been stuck in since the Tehran protests (that's 26 months for those keeping count). Well, and since the failure of Stephen Harper to rescue him from brutal punishment for the dire crime of free-speech. His story after the break.


Hoder studied at both Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran and at University of Toronto. He started blogging in Farsi in 1999, and soon was writing Persian guides to blogging and citizen journalism. He lived in Toronto full-time in 2000, and began talking about political reform in Iran--and the way that technology can make it happen. Iran had a bit of a freakout, making him sign an apology for sassing. Which he later blogged all about, in the spirit of free speech.
As a Canadian citizen, Hoder travelled to Israel to combat stereotypes between Israelis and Iranians. When he returned to Toronto he continued to blog with the goal of opening up some minds and combating censorship in the Iranian "blogistan".

Which went off poorly.

In 2008, Hoder was arrested at his home in Tehran, without charge. By 2009, he was still in jail, but still hadn't been charged. Reports flooded in from human rights organizations of being subject to beatings and various physical/psychological pressure tactics. His temporary detention order expired in October of 2009--he only went to trial in March of 2010. He was sentenced on Sept. 28th, and small facts started to emerge.

Specifically, he was charged with "conspiring with hostile governments, disseminating anti-Islamic propaganda, disseminating anti-revolutionary propaganda, blasphemy, and operating and managing obscene pornography websites".

He was sentenced to 19.5 years in prison and substantially fined. For blogging.

His family put up $1.5 million worth of bail to ensure his return to lockup, but for now, Hoder's out.
Let it never be said that they're just words...