Since 2003, 64 citizens unaffiliated with news organizations have been arrested for their blogging activities and served a total of 940 months of prison time. Bloggers are being arrested for criticizing governments and exposing human rights abuse, according to a report from the University of Washington.
“Last year, 2007, was a record year for blogger arrests, with three times as many as in 2006. Egypt, Iran and China are the most dangerous places to blog about political life, accounting for more than half of all arrests since blogging became big,” said Assistant Professor Phil Howard, lead author of the World Information Access Report.
In addition to Iran, Egypt and China, Middle Eastern regimes in Syria and Saudi Arabia, and South East Asian nations such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand also figure in the report.
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