Iran to Blogfather: Don't ever go against the family

"A man that doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man."
- Don Corleone

Recently Iran's judiciary confirmed the whereabouts of Iranian-Canadian Hossein Derakhshan, a.k.a. the "Blogfather" in honour of his pioneering work in the field of Persian-language blogging.

Those whereabouts: oh, he's in the Iranian judiciary's custody. You know, with the family.

While on a visit to Iran, the Blogfather was arrested at the home of his actual family in Tehran around November 1, then was not heard from for some time.

Now Canadian officials in Iran have been alerted to the situation, but no one is yet sure why the Blogfather is under arrest or how he's been treated, or what offers have been made him that he possibly can't refuse.

Speculation is that the Blogfather was grabbed for violating Iran's strict laws against insulting Islam. Wilder stories include the charge that he is an Israeli spy, the punishment for which is sleeping with the fishes.

The record of the Blogfather's blog leaves one wondering which family he's working for. After all, times have changed. It's not like the old days, when [he] could do anything [he] wanted.

October 27, 2005:

I'm very sorry about what this fundamentalist moron [Ahmadinejad] who happens to be Iran's president has recently said [about wiping Israel off the map]. But I have to say he doesn't represent the way the majority in Iran think. This guy is a fraud... Ahmadinejad only represents a small number of radical clerics around Mesbah and some Revolutionary Guards commanders who benefit from violence and war. Ahmadinejad is an indirect result of America's policy shift against the reformists in Iran.

September 25, 2008:

Today is the eighth anniversary of this blog, which I started in September 25th, 2001. But it's amazing how some people are rewriting the history of the Iranian blogosphere as if I never existed and I did nothing for it. These were the same people who started calling me the blogfather after they made their own blogs using my instruction and technical help and now that they don't like my politics, they would rather removing me from teh [sic] whole narrative. But I'm sure in two years many of them would be where I am today, politically speaking.

And his last post, from October 5, 2008, just before the Blogfather disappeared:

Ahmadinejad's brilliant strategy of dismissing Israel and smiling to the U.S. has divided the the U.S. in all levels and that's a big achievement comparing to Khatami's weak anf failed U.S. strategy that led to Iran being part of the 'axis of evil'. Now the same Bush administration has officially opened the diplomatic line. Please get over Ahmadinejad's scruffy look, prayers, and plain language and see these achievements.

In summary, the Blogfather has been extremely crititcal of the Iranian government, its autocratic clerics and its current president. He's also (lately) been extremely supportive of the current Iranian regime.

No doubt the confused Ahmadinejad is just wondering of the Blogfather, "What have I ever done to make you treat me so disrespectfully? If you'd come to me in friendship, then this scum that ruined your daughter would be suffering this very day. And if by chance an honest man like yourself should make enemies, then they would become my enemies. And then they would fear you."

Or something.