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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |
| Canada denied access to Hoder | |
| 2009-01-01 | |
| Canada has not been granted consular access to detained Iranian-Canadian blogger Hossein Derakhshan in Iran, a foreign affairs spokesman said in Ottawa Tuesday. "Consular officials have been in contact with Iranian authorities, including by diplomatic note, to obtain confirmation of Derakhshan's arrest and to seek consular access," Canadian foreign ministry spokesman Rodney Moore told AFP. "To date, we have not received a response from the Government of Iran." "Consular officials will continue to press Iranian authorities for access to Mr. Derakhshan, consistent with the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations," he added. The Iranian judiciary confirmed earlier Tuesday that Derakhshan, whose highly political "hoder.com" blog has not been updated since October 30, is under arrest over remarks he allegedly made about key figures of the Shiite faith. Derakhshan's "case is under preliminary investigation and he is in custody," Iran's ILNA news agency quoted judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi as saying. Jamshidi did not say when and where Derakhshan was detained. Some reports outside Iran said he was arrested on November 1 shortly after arriving in Tehran on a private visit. Moore said Canada learned of his reported arrest in mid-November. A conservative Iranian website said in November that Derakhshan had been arrested on suspicion of spying for Israel. Dubbed the "father" of Iranian blogging, Derakhshan, 34, sparked a blogging revolution in the Islamic republic by posting precise instructions in 2001 on how to set up Persian-language blogs, which have burgeoned to around 70,000 in recent years.
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| Posted by:Fred |