Iran's Clerics Caught Up in Blogging Craze

The craze for blogging in Iran has reached an unlikely set of adherents - the country's conservative Islamic clerics.

Following the example of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, ayatollahs, seminary students and theologians are receiving training in setting up their own weblogs.

Courses run by the newly-established office of religious weblog expansion have begun in the holy city of Qom, the traditional home of Iran's religious establishment. Students more used to poring over the theological nuances of the Qur'an will receive instruction on practical matters such as blog content and technical support. Some 300 clerics, religious students and writers have been signed up.

The arrival of the religious ruling class on Iran's blogosphere is ironic in view of the harsh crackdown launched by the authorities against bloggers who have used it to voice political dissent. Scores of bloggers have been jailed in recent years while many sites have been blocked using US-made filtering technology.

Iran is estimated to have between 75,000 and 100,000 bloggers, most of them avoiding politics to concentrate on matters like social affairs, culture and sex.

The trend began among the political reformist movement in 2001 as a response to the closures of dozens of liberal newspapers and magazines on the orders of religious hardliners. It has since become a phenomenon among the computer-savvy younger generation.

Mr Ahmadinejad jumped on the bandwagon last month when he launched a blog attached to his presidential website. His first entry set out his personal background and political philosophy and asked if the US and Israel were intent on starting a third world war.