Iranian bloggers sentenced to be imprisoned and lashed for alleged treason and gambling

Rooz Online reports that four Iranian bloggers, Javad Gholam Tamimi, Shahram Rafizadeh, Rouzbeh Mir ‎Ebrahimi and Omid Memarian, have been sentenced in Tehran to between nine months and four years in prison each as well as various numbers of lashes for a number of alleged crimes.

The four are accused of crimes including "propaganda against regime", ‎‎"membership in illegal groups" and "possession of playing cards".

They were arrested in September 2004 along with 17 others, and spent several ‎months in in solitary confinement, forced to confess by Tehran’s Prosecutor General Saeed Mortazavi.‎

Omid Memarian told Rooz Online: "The officers who interrogated me and extracted the confessions that ‎they wanted while I was held in solitary confinement under all kinds of physical and ‎psychological pressures were sexual and mental abusers.‎"

Former President of Iran Mohammad Khatami’s ‎deputy, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, wrote on his blog Webneveshtha about the abuses, later hacked by Iranian authorities.

Amnesty USA reports widespread torture and abuse in Iraninan prisons, including one inmate needing his hands amputated after he was tied to a ceiling fan by staff, which severed the circulation.

I wonder if the British Left will ever be able to oppose war with Iran while condemnming that vile regime (which is my position).

Too many left wingers condemn evil when it fits their dogma but not when it doesn't.

An excellent piece by Sussex student Ruthie Samuel condemns the whitewashing of Hamas' crimes by some Sussex students, as well as the invitation of Hamas supporter Dr Azzam Tamimi to speak at my former university (which also turned my stomach).

Fellow Sussez student Jamie Askew was not opposed to Dr Azzam Tamimi's presence, but was concerned by the alleged support some students gave to his views.

It seemed that any person who held a position, other than that demonstrated by the speakers, and who condemned the use of violence was not allowed to have that opinion in that room. The meeting reached a point where one member stood and argued that any individual who did not support Hamas would not be welcome to demonstrate with the activists in any subsequent action. This instantly alienated me and made me feel that to support a group of oppressed people I had to instantly support their government.