Free Hossein Derakhshan

Hossein Derakhshan is an Iranian blogger who has been a member of the PostGlobal panel. David Ignatius characterizes him as a natural choice for PostGlobal: smart, outspoken, unpredictac]ble, fearless (PostGlobal). Sometimes he was defending the Tehran regime, sometimes he was criticizing it.

He has returned to Tehran a couple of weeks ago, after living several years mostly in Canada. Last week he was arrested and accused of spying for Israel. Actually he had traveled there in 2007, speaking publicly about his experiences in his blog. His real issue is that he dared to speak about Israeli people as human beings, not demons. He was traveling there on his Canadian passport, that does not forbid visiting Israel.

Look only at his most recent post and you'll see that he's far from an Israeli agent:

Ahmadinejad's brilliant strategy of dismissing Israel and smiling to the U.S. has divided the the U.S. in all levels and that's a big achievement comparing to Khatami's weak anf failed U.S. strategy that led to Iran being part of the 'axis of evil'. Now the same Bush administration has officially opened the diplomatic line. Please get over Ahmadinejad's scruffy look, prayers, and plain language and see these achievements.

So the accusations against him make no sense. Putting him in jail by the Tehran authorities is unjust and we have to call for his freedom.

(Blogosphere)