Two bloggers and members of the “Committee of Human Rights [1]” (Chrr), Mehrdad Rahimi and Kouhyar Goudarzi (photographed above: Goudarzi, left, and Rahimi, right) have been accused of wanting to wage “a war against God,” and charged as being “Mohareb” (enemies of God). Their charges are similar to those against the two men who were executed this week in Tehran. Reporters without Borders writes [2] other bloggers who are members of the committee have also been arrested in recent weeks. They are Parisa Kakei, who was arrested on January 2; Shiva Nazar Ahari on December 24; and Said Kanaki and Said Jalali on December 1. They are all still being held in Section 209 of Tehran’s notorious Evin prison and are being subjected to considerable pressure to name other members of the committee and to call for it to be disbanded.
Chrr writes [3] [fa] that Mehrdad Rahimi is under pressure to do a “television confession.”
This organization adds [4]:
Koohyar Goodarzi, journalist and human rights activist, has reportedly been transferred from solitary confinement to a three-person cell in Ward 209 of Evin prison. Goodarzi has been detained since December 20, 2009.
It is not clear that how much their blogging activities played in their arrest but both of them used to blog on human rights issues.
Mehrdad Rahimi in his blog talked about diverse social, political and economic issues such as labour rights. He once wrote [5]:
Many got arrested for months without any right to have access to any lawyer.
Koohyar Goodarzi in a long post asked [6] for freedom for other members of the Committee of Human Rights.
Iranian authorities have jailed [7]several bloggers such as Hossien Derakhshan [8] in recent years. Omid Reza Mir Sayafi [9], a 29-year old Iranian blogger and journalist died in Evin Prison in Tehran on March 18, 2009.