Iran moves against democratic Web sites

The International Herald Tribune: "Mahboubeh Abbas-Gholizadeh, editor of the magazine Farzaneh, who is an advocate of expanded rights for women, was arrested Nov. 1 after she returned from London, where she had attended the European Social Forum. Fereshteh Ghazi, a journalist for the daily newspaper Etemad, who also writes about women's issues, was arrested four days earlier after she was summoned to court to answer questions, said her husband, Ahmad Begloo.

Three major pro-democracy Web sites that support President Mohammad Khatami were blocked in August. Many rights advocates turned to the Internet after the judiciary shut down more than 100 pro-democracy newspapers and journals in recent years. The number of Internet users in Iran has soared in the past four years, to 4.8 million from 250,000.

The move to block Web sites has the support of a senior cleric, Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, who declared in September in the hard-line daily newspaper Kayhan that Web sites that "insult sacred concepts of Islam, Prophet and imams, publish harmful and deviated beliefs to promote atheism or promote sinister books" should be blocked.

When the most recent wave of arrests began in September, the authorities arrested the father of a Web technician, Sina Motallebi, who has taken refuge in the Netherlands. Motallebi wrote a Web log and helped run one of the political Web sites. The father, Saeed Motallebi, was held for 11 days and then released.

Omid Memarian, who was arrested Oct. 10, is a journalist well known among private aid groups. He wrote a Web log in Farsi and English.

The judiciary is drafting a law that will define cybercrimes. The chief of the judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Shahroudi, has said the law will prescribe the punishment for "anyone who disseminates information aimed at disturbing the public mind through computer systems."