Free Hossein Derakhshan
gopetition.com / PEN Canada
30-Oct-2010 (one comment)
Background (Preamble): The Canadian-Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan is currently serving a 19-and-a-half year prison sentence in Iran for exercising his right to freedom of expression.

PEN Canada urges the government of Canada to secure Hossein Derakhshan's immediate and unconditional release. Petition: We, the undersigned, support PEN Canada in its call for the release of Hossein Derakhshan, the Canadian-Iranian blogger who has been detained by the Iranian authorities since November 2008 for exercising his universally guaranteed right to freedom of expression.

Derakhshan is also known as “the blogfather” for his pioneering blog and Farsi language blogging manual, which encouraged a whole generation of Iranians, both inside the country and elsewhere, to express their points of view online.

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DelilahNY

New Petition, to Canadian PM by PEN Canada

by DelilahNY on Sat Oct 30, 2010 09:43 AM PDT

This petition is not the same one that has been circulating from Internet Sans Frontieres and freetheblogfather.org.
PEN Canada Canadian branch of PEN, an international writers organization dedicated to free speech, has made Hoder (who is a Canadian dual national), a focal point of this year's human rights campaign. See:
PEN Canada statement
Toronto Star Article
They have issued the petition given in the body of today's news submission to urge the Canadian government to apply pressure to IRI on Hoder's behalf.  See this article plus the links given on the thread below it for information on Canada's role in his case.
RFE/RL also published this article on Hossein today:


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