Internet Repression Extends to Iranians Abroad

This from Phil Noble of Politics online:

While Iranians at home are being silenced online, according to a recent Wall Street Journal investigation, the Internet crackdown is extending to Iranians abroad as well. Iran's leadership is crossing national borders and targeting world-wide dissidents with harassment techniques created to silence their global critics. According to the Wall Street Journal, "dozens of individuals in the U.S. and Europe who criticized Iran on Facebook or Twitter said their relatives back in Iran were questioned or temporarily detained because of their postings...Five interviewees who traveled to Iran in recent months said they were forced by police at Tehran's airport to log in to their Facebook accounts." Several interviewees reported having their passports confiscated due to the harsh criticisms against the Iranian government regarding the handling of the presidential election in June that they had posted online. A German intelligence report indicates that Iranian intelligence operatives are monitoring about 900 critics of the Iranian regime in Germany and try to intimidate the protestors by videotaping them. Internet laws in Iran are purposely kept vague so that the regime can arrest people and bloggers for any reason. The suppressive president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad understands what a powerful tool the Internet is in disseminating information and seeks to harness the Net to spread his own message. Ahmadinejad is himself a blogger and is said to allot 15 minutes a week to writing on his blog, "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Personal Memo's".