Mr Sigarchi was charged with a string of crimes against the Iranian state, including espionage, insulting the founder of Iran's Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei, and current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In actual fact what he was doing was what so many of us do, promoting his opinion via a blog.
This is an outrage.
We in the Western world, at times, take for granted our freedoms. We may not be as free in some instances as we would like but Mr Sigarchi's situation brings our difficulties into a stark perspective. Many of us consider the risk of losing our employment as the result of blogging, a crime against our freedom of speech and fight it fervently. To risk being incarcerated for such a 'crime' is unthinkable.
I am not naive enough to think it a completely alien concept, that what may be considered subversive, published opinions would not attract the attention of authorities here, in fact I know of one such case, but to be jailed by a kangaroo court for such actions just would not happen.
The committee to protect bloggers
Reporters without borders
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