Bloggers Arrested Worldwide In Record Numbers



June 16, 2008



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An annual report from the University of Washington is revealing new information about the human rights of bloggers..

Last year, three times as many people were arrested for their posting political views on their blogs than in 2006, according to the World Information Access (WIA) report..

In fact, the report said since 2003, 64 people have been arrested for publishing their views on a blog. More than half of all of these occurred in China, Egypt and Iran. Phil Howard, an assistant professor of communication at the University of Washington, said the report shows that these places are the most dangerous for bloggers..

"The real number of arrested bloggers is probably much higher, since many arrests in China, Zimbabwe, and Iran go unreported in the international media," Howard added..

But these arrests have even been on the rise in the UK, France, Canada and the US, where bloggers have also been arrested for voicing their opinions..



Collectively, bloggers have served 940 months of jail time in the last five years, the researchers found. During those years, the average prison term for citizen journalists was 15 months..

"Many countries have political bloggers, and many persecute journalists," Howard said. "More and more citizens are expressing themselves online, and being punished for it.."

The lowest punishment reported was a few hours and the longest was eight years..

Nine of Egypt's 14 known blogger arrests occurred in 2007, an election year. In 2005, Iranian blogger Mojtaba Saminejad was arrested for writing about the arrests of other bloggers..

"Some people blog about their arrests as soon as they get out of jail," Howard said..

The report noted that the obvious rise in the number of arrests showed that blogging was gaining political importance across the world. It also showed that arrests tended to increase during times of "political uncertainty", such as around general elections or during large scale protests..

The report also noted that many nations, perhaps as many as 30, imposed technological restrictions on what people can do online. In nations such as China this made it difficult for people to use a blog as a means of protest..