jason

globeandmail.com: How Hoder galvanized the Iranians of ‘Tehranto’

Before he disappeared, Hossein Derakhshan might have been Toronto’s most famous blogger.

For a time, he was held in such high regard that when renowned cartoonist Nikahang Kowsar, a fellow Iranian expatriate, drew a cartoon to honour him, he rendered the man who helped kick off Iran’s blogging revolution as a marble statue.

But Mr. Derakhshan’s politics shifted, growing more sympathetic to Iran’s regime. His friendships soured, and Mr. Kowsar’s cartoons ceased to be so flattering. Now, Mr. Kowsar is worried for his former friend.

A month after making a ballyhooed return to Iran, Mr. Derakhshan, 34, has vanished. State media has reported that he’s under arrest, charged with spying for Israel. The Internet is up in arms; the blogosphere is abuzz with concern that one of its stars is in trouble. Human-rights organizations around the world are demanding his release. But in his adoptive home of Toronto, he’s left a bitter divide in the Persian blogging community.