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February 14, 2012
February 14, 2012
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Breaking and Bending Censorship with Walid Al-Saqaf

Arseh Sevom --- Reports from the Islamic Republic of Iran about internet speeds, work to create a parallel cyber Iran, and the growing success of filtering systems paint a picture of desperate efforts to exert control over the population. Iran is not alone in its efforts. North Korea has their own "intranet" called Kwang Myong ("light" or "hope, fair, just, open"). The North Korean version duplicates external content it deems acceptable. Iran's new closed intranet is expected to do the same, in a cyber version of what the state already does in traditional media by cherry-picking content from international sources and editing or translating it in ways that often distort the original meaning.
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February 13, 2012
February 13, 2012
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Iran: Anniversary demonstrations on 14 February must be allowed to take place peacefully

Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian authorities to respect freedom of assembly and allow peaceful demonstrations in Tehran and elsewhere in Iran on 14 February 2012, amid fears that the authorities may once again use excessive use of force to quell protests, as has happened in previous years.The demonstrations - called by the Coordination Council of the Green Path of Hope - mark the one year anniversary of demonstrations called by opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, in support of the people of Egypt and Tunisia which were brutally repressed and left at least two people dead.Amnesty International also reiterated its call for the immediate release of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who have been held under unofficial house arrest since 10 and 14 February 2011 respectively. Mir Hossein Mousavi’s wife, Zahra Rahnavard, is also held, while Mehdi Karroubi is currently held on his own and has been denied any contact with his family since the day after he told his wife in December 2011 that he believed the upcoming parliamentary elections would be fraudulent.
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February 13, 2012
February 13, 2012
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Controlling the Internet by Creating a Parallel Cyber Iran

ARSEH SEVOM --- The anniversary of the fall of the Shah and the success of the revolution (February 11) is now marked by decreased internet connection speed, increased security, and fears of demonstrations in Iran.In addition to decreased bandwidth, the Islamic Republic is in the process of creating a parallel cyber-world. Instead of spending time and energy filtering sites using a blacklist, the regime is creating a "whitelist" of acceptable sites. Everything is blocked except sites deemed appropriate by the regime. It's a kind of "shoot first, ask questions later" policy. Instead of the "old" Orkut — an early social media site which was a hit in Iran before it was filtered — and the "new" Facebook, they offer websites such as www.cloob.com. Instead of Youtube (for video uploading) they offer www.aparat.com and instead of Google’s Blogspot they have www.Mihanblog.com. Even these sites can end up filtered at "sensitive" times, such as the days leading up to the anniversary of the revolution. In addition, content that does not meet their terms of use is quickly deleted from view.
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February 11, 2012
February 11, 2012
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NGOs around the world Condemn Persistent Crackdowns on Egyptian Civil Society and reject disabling draft NGO Law

NGOs around the world Condemn Persistent Crackdowns on Egyptian Civil Society and reject disabling draft NGO Law. Civicus has joined with other organizations to issue a […]
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February 9, 2012
February 9, 2012
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Iran Puts Its Foot Down: Netizens, Reporters, and Civil Rights Get Squashed

In the lead up to the upcoming parliamentary elections, Iran is cracking down on free expression and civil society organizations. Netizens, bloggers, and reporters have found themselves swept up in a wave of arrests; passage of the Islamic Penal Code further codifies human and civil rights violations into law; and one of the Islamic Republic's longest running civil society organizations is shut down.

Crushing Expression

The end of January 2012 witnessed a further escalation in human rights violations in Iran. The ongoing repression continued with the arrest of three journalists: Saham-aldin Bourghani, Parastoo Dokoohaki, and Marzieh Rasooli. The arrests of Mohammad Solimaninya, a website administrator and owner of Social Network for Iranian Professionals (www.u24.ir) that hosts and designs a number of civil society websites, ten Sunni Muslims in Ahwaz, as well as the shocking confirmation of the death sentence for Iranian-Canadian Saeed Malekopour, are just a few examples of the human rights situation in Iran in January alone.
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February 7, 2012
February 7, 2012
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Egypt — Punishing Pro-Democracy NGOs

Arseh Sevom --- The Egyptian public prosecutor has issued more than 40 indictments against members of international NGOs for participating in banned activities and receiving funding from foreign sources. The Arabist has published a list of names and affiliations. Nineteen of those indicted are American citizens.The Guardian reports that NGOs attempting to legally register in Egypt face a long wait and confusing bureaucracy:
"You submit your papers, then they keep asking for more and you don't get anywhere, and in the end you are not registered," said Sherif Azer, deputy head of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights.NDI [National Democratic Institute] submitted a request in 2005 that did not meet with much interest by the authorities and was asked to resubmit its papers by the ministry of foreign affairs last month, Hughes said. "We were given verbal indications that our programmes were well within Egyptian law," she said.
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February 6, 2012
February 6, 2012
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Families of BBC Reporters in Iran Targeted

Arseh Sevom --- For months now, Iranian state media has been slandering BBC Persian journalists, accusing them of a number of crimes including drug trafficking, sexual impropriety, and even rape. Recently, they also began detaining the family members of the journalists for questioning in the hopes of intimidating the foreign-based journalists.“This is unprecedented in its level of viscousness,” BBC correspondent Kasra Naji tells Arseh Sevom. "We have not seen this level of brazen and vicious attacks before.""It is impossible to miss the pattern of arrests and intimidation from the regime against those who challenge the dominance of its hold on information," says Arseh Sevom board president, Bert Taken. "We saw a sharp rise in arrests before the 2009 elections as well. This was particularly the case with women's rights activists, reporters, and bloggers. The harassment of the families of human rights defenders, journalists, and others is a new low for Iran. We know the mother of an imprisoned human rights defender was imprisoned simply for speaking with the international media. Arseh Sevom asks the Iranian government to rescind these policies and to respect its citizen's freedom of speech as guaranteed by its own constitution."
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February 2, 2012
February 2, 2012
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EU High Representative Voices Concern About the Treatment of Journalists and Netizens in Iran

On January 31, 2012, The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the Commission, Catherine Ashton, issued a statement of concerned about the state of journalists and netizens in Iran. She calls for Iran to review harsh sentences and for a moratorium on the death penalty. The text of the statement follows:
"I am extremely worried about the growing harassment and persecution of journalists and internet bloggers in Iran. The right to free speech is an internationally enshrined fundamental human right, which Iran itself has freely signed up to respect and protect. In the past few weeks, security forces have reportedly arrested many journalists, including Sahameddin Bourghani, Parastoo Dokouhaki, Hassan Fathi, Farshad Ghorbanpour, Ehsan Houshmand, Fatemeh Kheradmand, Saeed Madani, Shahram Manouchehri, Marzieh Rasouli, Arash Sadeghi and Mohammad Soleimani Nia. I call on the Iranian authorities to release these journalists and restore their rights to freely communicate their views.
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January 31, 2012
January 31, 2012
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Open Letter Against the Closure of the House of Cinema Signed by 2000

Arseh Sevom --- Kaleme.com has published an open letter against the closing of the House of Cinema signed by nearly 2000 people and organizations. All of the House of Cinema's affiliated guilds signed along with a large number of its 5000 members. This list includes a number of renowned Iranian filmmakers and actors.The House of Cinema was one of the Islamic Republic's oldest independent civil society organizations, tracing its roots back to the late 80s. It has consistently operated openly, publishing much of its documents online. Relations with the government became increasingly strained after the 2009 presidential elections finally culminating in its closure in December 2011 on a technicality.More in Persian on Kaleme.com
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