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Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari was held in a Tehran jail for 118
days in 2009. His arrest came as he worked for western media outlets,
including BBC Panorama. In this analysis, Mr Bahari explains why the
regime fears information, the internet and a free press.

"Information is a weapon, and in the wrong hands it is even more dangerous than a real gun!"

This was my torturer's message to me in the summer of 2009 after my arrest.

"You,
Mr. Bahari, used the information you gathered against our master, Grand
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the rightful successor of the prophet and the
family of the prophet on this earth. You used information like a gun
against our master. You are a terrorist, albeit a peaceful terrorist,
Mr. Bahari."

He was a zealot who made a living by beating and
humiliating innocent men and women in dark interrogation rooms and
torture chambers.

My arrest came after I filmed scenes of Iran's
militia shooting from their base at protesters - some of whom had been
throwing petrol bombs at the militia. I saw two people shot dead that
day.

'Guilty'

The images were broadcast around the
world as supporters of the Green Movement took to the streets to protest
what was widely seen as a fixed election result that returned President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power with a landslide. I was... >>>