How to Help Free Iran's Youngest Imprisoned Blogger

UPDATE: Navid Mohebbi, the youngest blogger ever arrested, was released by Iran on Christmas Day! While governments and mainstream media have paid little attention to Navid's case, A Safe World for Women has led the way, using Change.org to pressure senior UN human rights officials into advocating for Navid's release. Over 600 Change.org members took action to demand UN help in getting Navid released. You can continue to follow Navid's case: just click 'Like' at the top of our Facebook page for occasional updates.

For the past couple years, Navid Mohebbi wrote down some musings about his country.

Every month or so, the Iranian teenager would blog on issues such as gender equality, the shenanigans of his government and the mistreatment of women around the world. Repeatedly, he would return to his site to write a new post only to find that his previous writing had been censored.

Occasionally, the Iranian Intelligence Service would interrogate him about his involvement in women's rights activities, such as organizing an International Women's Day event and the One Million Signatures Campaign.

But Navid was resilient. Each time his blog was tampered with, he would recover its archive and post again. When he suspended his blogging activity in April, it was due to a heavy load of school work, not fear of his government.

On September 18, 2010, eight police officers raided Navid's father's house, beat Navid and placed him under arrest. He was held without charge for two months, mostly in solitary confinement. Navid was refused legal council during a closed-door trial and on November 23, an Islamic Revolutionary Court convicted Mohebbi of acting against national security, propaganda against the state through connection with foreign media, insulting the founder of the Islamic Republic and insulting the current leader of the Islamic Republic - all for defending the rights of women.

"I don't know why my blogs which I update once a month or so would scare these people so much," Mohebbi wrote in one of his blogs.

He is currently being held in a small cell with a convicted murderer as he waits for his sentencing. Neither his family nor his attorney have been permitted to see him, and his family is under pressure from the government not to publicize his case.

This is by no means an unusual case in Iran. Tons of human rights advocates have been arrested under national security and propaganda charges. However, Mohebbi is the youngest blogger and One Million Signatures advocate to be arrested.

Not much else is known about this brave young man. A Safe World for Women, a global women's rights and advocacy organization, was the first to break the story, sent in by their Iran correspondent Joanne Michele. There is no complete English translation of Mohebbi's blog, but Josh Shahryar, journalist for the Huffington Post and Enduring America, has kindly translated a few of his posts, which highlight domestic violence, economic inequality, forced circumcision, forced prostitution, lack of health care, and poor education all over the world.

"The posts are simultaneously very inspiring and heartbreaking," Chris Crowstaff, founder of A Safe World for Women, told Change.org.

The tactics of the reactionary government might be perplexing, but they also prove that even small actions by young people are a real threat to oppressive regimes.

A Safe World for Women is mobilizing folks to call on various UN officials to intervene on Navid's behalf.

Sign it below, and hopefully we can all have an influence over the fate of this courageous young man.

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GOT A TIP FOR US? Is there a story or campaign in your area that we'd want to know about? E-mail us at humanrightstips@change.org. Please also follow Change.org's Human Rights page on Facebook and Twitter. Photo Credit: A Safer World for Women