Iran - Sliencing Free Speech

Africa's Mbeki criticized the US for placing "Zimbabwe alongside Cuba, Belarus, Burma, Iran and North Korea in a list of tyrannical states..." Even though Zimbabwe is kicking journalist out of the country and closing newspapers.

Strange, Mr. Mbeki, Iran is doing the same thing.

Iran Jails Editor for 14 Years for Insulting Leaders

TEHRAN (Reuters) - An Iranian journalist was jailed for 14 years on charges ranging from espionage to insulting the country's leaders in an unusually heavy sentence in Iran, where tens of journalists have been tried in recent years.

Rights activists said on Tuesday that Arash Sigarchi, 28, was convicted by the Revolutionary Court in the Caspian province of Gilan in northern Iran.

Sigarchi, a newspaper editor in Gilan who also wrote an Internet journal or "weblog," was arrested last month after responding to a summons from the Intelligence Ministry.
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