Mystery surrounds arrested Iranian blogger's reported death

BEIRUT -- Human rights activists are calling on Iran to investigate the apparent death of a blogger who was in custody after being arrested for criticizing the government in online postings.

Sattar Beheshti, 35, reportedly died this week while in detention after his arrest Oct. 30 by Iran’s cyber police unit.

Beheshti maintained a website, My Life for My Iran, on which he criticized the Iranian government, said the human rights group Amnesty International.

The exact time and cause of his death are not publicly known, Amnesty said in a statement.

“The Iranian authorities must immediately carry out an independent investigation into his death, including whether torture played a part in it,” Amnesty International said.

Filipinos face 12 years in prison for online libel under new law

Filipinos who libel others on Facebook, Twitter or elsewhere online could be jailed for up to 12 years under a law that went into effect Wednesday in the Philippines.

The new law against cyber-crime includes a disputed provision that imposes much steeper penalties for committing libel on the Internet than offline. It allows police to shut down websites and do some monitoring of email and online activity without a warrant.

Fears of an increasing government grip on online speech set off a firestorm this week among Filipinos, who have been dubbed some of the most avid users of social media in the world. Rights groups warn that existing libel laws are already vague enough for criticism of the government to be deemed criminal.

“The Philippines was considered a regional leader in Internet freedom,” said Sanja Kelly of the international rights group Freedom House. “This law puts it closer to more authoritarian states.” Even clicking "like" on an offending Facebook post could be construed as libel under the broadly written law, the rights group warned.

Internet freedom groups, journalists and bloggers in the Philippines blacked out their websites Wednesday in protest, calling the new law an unconstitutional trampling of free speech rights. Some took to the streets to protest. Several petitions have already been filed with the Supreme Court challenging the law.