It may sound odd to uberliberals worldwide, but many governments still consider speech in their policing purview. Iran is one of these countries, and they obviously found the writings of two bloggers offensive enough to justify incarceration.

Today, the Committee to Protect Bloggers has denounced the sentence handed down from the Iranian court. The day, Tuesday February 22, 2005, was to be "Free Mojtaba and Arash Day". Part of the committee's outrage is that the sentence was handed down on their declared protest day.

It seems that the real loss here was the forteen years of life this man may spend in prison, not so much the pride of the blogging community. Perhaps the outrage is misplaced. Keep in mind, the Mullahs consider the Western philosophy of free speech hedonistically wicked. And, after all, that is Iran. It's not America or England or any other liberal western society. Why do people continue to apply our laws and beliefs to other nations?

Amnesty International has recorded a growing number of cases of people detained or imprisoned for disseminating their beliefs or information through the internet, in countries such as China, Syria, Vietnam, the Maldives, Cuba, Iran and Zimbabwe. - BBC News

China, Syria, Vietnam, Cuba, Iran... these are all countries groups like Amnesty International stand firmly behind in opposition to US led military actions against tyranny.

As the post goes on to say "no wall-maker ever prevailed against the sea." And, I totally agree. However, as groups like SMCCDI work toward democracy in Iran, many so-called liberals continue to complain that working toward worldwide liberal democracy is a hopeless and infantile goal. Friends, I'm all for freedom! I don't know what these guys may have done in violation of local law that I may not want to support. The bottom line is, guns and ballots change things. When Iranians want liberal democracy, they'll stand up and demand it. Until then, there's little we can do to enforce our beliefs in Iran.

Blogging may encourage pressures to be born and brought against the government to release these men. So, blog on. Just remember what kind of pressure gets the job done.

Posted in politics jasonn's blog