Blogs in Iran Offer Voice of Dissent

April 7, 2007 — -- Over the last two weeks, bloggers have been rare voices of public dissent inside Iran, criticizing their government's seizure of the 15 British soldiers. Much of their criticism centered on the negative impact they feared this episode would have on Iran's reputation in the world.

"Why is Iran losing its case in international public opinion and why doesn't the Iranian government care about this?" one blogger asked at http://viewfromiran.blogspot.com.

Another blogger, at http://persianperspective.wordpress.com/, in an entry entitled "Things you HAVE TO know about Iran," directed his message specifically to Americans, writing, "Ahmadinejad for all of his rhetoric only represents one of many circles of power … the Iranian leadership is not insane."

There is a different tone running through the newest entries on many of these same blogs. On Wednesday, announcing the release of the captive soldiers, Ahmadinejad was seen as having achieved a political victory, or at least a draw; the outcome sent a ripple of pride through the Iranian blogosphere.

Earlier in the week, Mr. Behi (http://mrbehi.blogs.com/), a popular blogger from Tehran, had written, "Iran is afraid. … It is cornered politically and militarily. … I think this is a panic reaction."

Updating his blog on Wednesday, he expressed satisfaction at the soldiers' release, but not before remarking, "I hope that the world would also please stop evil-izing Iran. So we have a naughty government. … You do not have to tell us over and over, we already know it. … And you told on us to the Security Council?"

In an entry on the blog, "Persian Students in the UK," one blogger wrote, "What's all this about allowing the captives to write letters home saying they are all right? It's time the Iranians fell into line with the rest of the civilized world: they should allow their captives the privacy of solitary confinement. That's one of the many privileges the U.S. grants to its captives in Guantanamo Bay" (http://www.persianstudents.org/).