The long-suspected arrest of a controversial Iranian-Canadian political blogger has been confirmed by Iran.
Hossein Derakhshan, known in the blogosphere by the name of his controversial website Hoder.com, hasn't posted since October, prompting many to assume he had been arrested.
Earlier in December, Derakhshan's family told The Globe and Mail that he had been locked up, and on Tuesday the Iranian judiciary confirmed Derakhshan was in custody.
Judiciary spokesperson Ali Reza Jamshidi told local media that Derakhshan is being held, and his case is under "preliminary investigation."
Jamshidi said the 34-year-old blogger was arrested over remarks he allegedly made about key Shiite Muslim holy figures.
No information was given about where or when Derakhshan was picked up, but earlier reports suggested he had been arrested on Nov. 1 shortly after arriving in Tehran.
Some reports said he was accused of spying for Israel.
Derakhshan has been dubbed the "blogfather" for writing and distributing instructions in 2001 that allowed Iranians to create their own Persian-language blogs.
The movement caught fire in the restrictive Muslim country, with an estimated 70,000 Iranians now maintaining their own blogs, in Persian.
He has never been afraid to express himself freely on his blog -- usually from outside of Iran.
In many of his postings the former newspaper reporter turned "citizen journalist" criticizes Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But he also gives the controversial president credit for actions he approves of.
In the recent years leading up to his arrest, Derakhshan even seemed to lean towards supporting Ahmadinejad and his hardline stance towards the West. He also defended Iran's nuclear ambitions and criticized U.S. and Israeli opposition to it.
In 2006, Derakhshan described travelling in Israel on his Canadian passport, musing that going there could have serious consequences.
"This might mean that I won't be able to go back to Iran for a long time, since Iran doesn't recognise Israel... and apparently considers travelling there illegal. Too bad, but I don't care."
"As a citizen journalist, I'm going to show my 20,000 daily Iranian readers what Israel really looks like and how people live there," he said.
