Many of you are following this story with skeptical eyes, and I want you to know: so am I. For those of you who aren’t so aware of what’s going on, here’s the breakdown:

A Persian news site, Jahan News, reported Hoder’s arrest last week. Following that announcement, Global Voices Advocacy picked up on the story (clearly putting “arrested” in quotes), prompting activists to contact major media outlets. While the activists had Hoder’s best interests at heart, the media quickly sensationalized the story, and before anyone could blink, the Times Online was reporting that “Iranian ‘Blogfather’ Hossein Derakhshan is arrested on charge of spying for Israel” with other outlets such as Haaretz and Canada’s National Post (which unfortunately quoted me as a news source and not a blog) simply piggybacking on the story.

Yet other sources have kept the story in quotes: Toronto’s Globe and Mail (which I spoke to regarding the skepticism), The New York Times, and prominent bloggers such as Ethan Zuckerman.

Right now, the truth is that we don’t know the truth. With no one to confirm or deny Hoder’s arrest, the best we can do is continue to advocate for him until more details are known.

p.s. Will my faithful readers please write to PostGlobal and ask them to update the facts as well? So far, I have done so without response.

Turkey just blocked the official site of Richard Dawkins, a prominent evolutionist and author.  Given how frequently Turkey seems to block sites, this doesn’t seem all that ridiculous on the surface.  Dig a little deeper, however, and you’ll find something far more nefarious.

Turkey banned Dawkins’ site at the request of Adnan Oktar, aka Harun Yahya, aka Islam’s most prominent creationist.  Oktar, incidentally, is also a sex offender, prosecuted in May and sentenced to three years in prison (he has appealed and has not yet been incarcerated).

What seems like a case of Turkey kowtowing to a religious nut gets even worse when you look at Oktar’s history with censorship.  In August 2007, Oktar managed to get WordPress.com banned in Turkey after finding WordPress blogs that contained insults directed at him (that blocking was later overturned), and later successfully got Google Groups blocked (the filter remains on one Turkish ISP).

Something’s fishy in Turkey.  Why is it that Oktar can say whatever wacky anti-science bull he wants, but the second someone insults him he’s against freedom of speech?  And why is the Turkish government so complicit in this?

Fortunately, this story has been covered quite a bit. Fortunately, because I’ve covered it in at least three articles and I don’t know that I have any more to say. I suppose I could reiterate my disappointment in Morocco for committing such an offense toward free speech.

Long story short – Blogger Mohammed Erraji was arrested early this week for an article in which he insulted the king; he was rapidly sentenced to two years in prison. A major downhill slide for Morocco.

The whole story is covered on Global Voices. A number of bloggers have said their piece as well; check out Berberus (new North Africa aggregator) for a full listing. Another blogger covering the story who appears to have been left out of the aggregator is A Moroccan About the World Around Him.

Observers of China’s Internet filtering practices have long been anticipating how China would fulfill those promises to the IOC. The options were few and clear:

1. China would open the Internet during the Olympic period
2. An open enclave for foreign journalists would be created
3. China would break its promise

Unsurprisingly, China has so far not honored its promises. Not only do the government’s monitors continue to filter hundreds of sites; the press center for foreign journalists offers the same filtered version of the Internet.

With opening day of the Games only a week away and more web sites become accessible,OpenNet will continue to monitor China’s filtering practices. In particular, we will monitor Olympic coverage to examine how coverage within China differs from that accessible from outside the country.

For up-to-date coverage of China’s filtering practices, during the Olympics and beyond, check OpenNet’s China page frequently.

Originally posted on OpenNet.net