UPDATE 12 JANUARY: Patrick Philippe Meyer has posted a thoughtful response, “Where I disagree with Will Heaven vs Josh Shahryar”, which concludes: “Digital activists really need to get up to speed on nonviolent civil resistance tactics and strategies just as the latter need to get up to speed on how to communicate more securely in repressive environments.”
— EA’s Josh Shahryar, to move beyond the myths of “security” on Iran and social media so we can continue in the task of information and analysis, offers some final thoughts to Will Heaven:
Before I get to your arguments, I want to clear something up first. My first response was rather insulting — and it was knowingly so. You had clearly gone out of your way to insult people that I have come to know and cherish both as friends and as colleagues. These people are not 13-year olds with laptops who listen to Emo music all day and cut themselves for fun. They are experienced professionals from fields as diverse as psychology, law, journalism, medicine, politics, and information technology. And they care. So any attempt at undermining their efforts will be swiftly answered. Anyone questioning their intentions or work is going to receive a reply. And any insults hurled at them will result in ridicule for the hurler.
It is clear that there is a relatively small group of decision makers inside Iran. They are in both political and commercial relationships, and if we can create a sanctions track that targets those who actually make the decisions, we think that is a smarter way to do sanctions. But all that is yet to be decided upon.
That’s not a breakthrough declaration, only a holding one. The White House does not want the sweeping sanctions proposed by Congress and will go for a “targeted” approach. It’s just not clear who is being targeted with what.
1945 GMT: Journalist Mohammad Reza Nourbakhsh has been sentenced to three years in jail by an appeals court for participating in rallies on 15 June. Nourbakhsh was originally given a six-year prison term.
1940 GMT: Beaten in Detention. Kalemeh claims Mehdi Mahmoudian, a senior member of the reformist Islamic Iran Participation Front, has been beaten by the authorities in Evin Prison.
1935 GMT: The Detained. Back from an academic break to find that an Iranian activist has posted the names of 156 people arrested between the religious days of Tasoa and Ashura (26-27 December) and 9 January. Read the rest of this entry »
The minor storm over Telegraph journalist and blogger Will Heaven’s recentposts on social media and the ongoing unrest in Iran, has brought much discussion of the pros and cons of reposting Iranian activists’ comments on Twitter and Facebook. To get to the heart of the issue, however, one needs to take a look at Heaven’s assumptions regarding Deep Packet Inspection.
It is now thought that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is using Deep Packet Inspection to check Facebook messages and tweets for “anti-regime” keywords. Once this is done, they are able to pinpont the location of online protesters using their IP addresses. Then it’s just a knock on the door and a confiscated laptop for evidence.
But is the use of DPI to punish dissent really this simple?
UPDATE 8 January: Will Heaven will not give up — he has made another attempt, informed only by anecdote, distortion, and speculation, to justify his campaign for silence on Twitter about #IranElection.
I will break my own vow of silence (see comments below), regarding any discussion of and thus further publicity for the thoughtless and indefensible in Mr Heaven’s “analysis”, to say this:
@WillHeaven: You insult those of us who use #Twitter wisely and, hopefully, effectively. You insult @persiankiwi, & you insult the people of #Iran. If you have any decency, stop.
(P.S. Maybe you can be of use writing about #uksnow.)
—
Josh Shahryar writes:
Waking up every day and being a journalist is a very conflicting job. Sometimes, you read the work of other journalists who’ve written responsibly and with full knowledge of the subject matter and you feel proud of who you are. Other times, people write things that make you want to just sit there and mourn the fact that he or she belongs to the same profession as you.
Last week, in the online edition of Britain’s Daily Telegraph, Will Heaven critiqued the people who have been active on Twitter for the cause of Iran — some now for almost 200 days — under the headline, “Iran and Twitter: the fatal folly of the online revolutionaries”. Read the rest of this entry »
Iran: We’ve caught up with all the latest news this evening on our LiveBlog.
Josh Shahryar lets loose his frustrations at Will Heaven: “Next time, if you’re going to write on this subject, please, inform yourself about the many terms you used and try to show the real picture.” Scott Lucas offers another perspective with a tribute to the bravery of two Iranian Twitterers no longer with us.
Videos from last night’s international football game between Singapore and Iran are posted in a special section. Iranian State TV reportedly cut the soundtrack to block the sound of the very political, pro-green, chants being heard throughout the stadium.
Israel/Palestine: EA’s Ali Yenidunya analyses the various statements and asks whether change could be in the air over the peace talks.
Israel: We report on an article in today’s Jerusalem Post which compares and contrasts the current Prime Minister Netanyahu with former PM Ariel Sharon.
Gaza: Following a call from Hamas rulers on Wednesday, protesting at the delay of an international aid convoy, a policeman has died and many activists have been injured following clashes between them and Egyptian forces.
1930 GMT: Kill Them. Abbas Vaez-Tabasi, a member of the Expediency Council and the Assembly of Experts has declared on state television, “Those who are behind the current sedition in the country … are mohareb (enemies of God) and the law is very clear about punishment of a mohareb [execution].”
Today’s Show of Support for the Regime? If you believe Peyke Iran, it wasn’t much. The website reports that residents in Rasht ridiculed a demonstration of 300 plainclothes Basijis chanting slogans for the execution of reformists like Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mohammad Khatami, and Mehdi Karroubi.
1845 GMT: The Arrests Move Higher. Government forces have arrested Mir Hossein Mousavi’s chief aide Alireza Beheshti. Beheshti, the son of one of Iran’s most commemorated martyrs, Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, was also detained briefly in September when the regime tried to disrupt preparations for Qods Day demonstrations.
1830 GMT: The Karroubi Family Speaks Out (Cont.): Mehdi Karroubi’s son Taghi has added to the criticisms by Karroubi’s wife and son Hossein of regime restrictions on his father. He said that Government-provided security has stopped protecting Karroubi when he leaves the house. This is effectively a ”quasi-house arrest’.’
UPDATE 12 JANUARY: Patrick Philippe Meyer has posted a thoughtful response, “Where I disagree with Will Heaven vs Josh Shahryar”, which concludes: “Digital activists really need to get up to speed on nonviolent civil resistance tactics and strategies just as the latter need to get up to speed on how to communicate more securely in repressive environments.”
UPDATE 8 January: Will Heaven will not give up — he has made 
1930 GMT: Kill Them. Abbas Vaez-Tabasi, a member of the Expediency Council and the Assembly of Experts 
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