Challenging Political Repression Through the
Internet
(New York, October 27, 2005) – On November 8,
Human Rights Watch will honor Omid Memarian, an Iranian human rights activist
who has creatively used the internet to press for a more open and democratic
political regime in Iran.
Omid Memarian
Omid
Memarian embodies the new breed of human rights defenders who are pushing the
boundaries of freedom of expression in Iran by working on the Internet. Mr.
Memarian worked as a journalist for reformist newspapers until the Iranian
government cracked down on the press and shuttered most of the independent
papers. Refusing to admit defeat, Mr. Memarian shifted to the Internet,
pioneering a new medium of human rights reporting. His web-log is dedicated to
social, cultural and civil society issues in Iran.
“Omid
Memarian represents the generation of human rights defenders in
Iran who came of age during
the last decade of promised reforms,” said Hadi Ghaemi, Iran researcher with Human Rights Watch’s Middle
East and North Africa division. “As an
insightful and popular commentator, he represents a threat to the current
hardliners who are rolling back basic human rights in Iran.”
As a result
of his public defense of human rights, Mr. Memarian was arrested with more than
twenty other bloggers in October 2004. He was detained in solitary confinement,
tortured repeatedly, and forced to make false confessions. Following protests
from the international community, including Human Rights Watch, Mr. Memarian was
released in December 2004. Human Rights Watch worked closely with his colleagues
to campaign for his release.
Mr.
Memarian has worked with Human Rights Watch to expose arbitrary detentions,
torture and mistreatment of prisoners in Iran at great
personal risk.
“After the
reformist press was crushed, blogs have become one of the last remaining outlets
for free expression in Iran,” said Ghaemi.
In recent
years, Human Rights Watch has documented the Iranian government’s moves to
silence Internet and blog communications.
Human Rights Watch said that the Iranian government’s use of torture in
detention has effectively destroyed the country’s independent
media.
“Omid has
been an outspoken advocate of freedom of the press and democratic reforms even
after he was detained and tortured by security forces in the past year,” said
Ghaemi. “Human Rights Watch is honouring Omid to show solidarity with all the
writers and activists across the Middle East
who are using the web to break down government controls on human rights
information and free expression.”
