Iran's censorship of blogs is not limited to advanced filtering technologies - the state police regularly arrest, imprison, and torture local bloggers. Bloggers can be charged with a wide array of crimes, ranging from "insulting the prophets" to "propaganda against the government." Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports that more than 20 bloggers have been arrested since 2004. The following is but one example:

Mojtaba Saminejad, an Internet writer, was arrested on February 13 and sentenced to more than two years in prison on charges including insulting the supreme leader. He was first detained in October 2004 after reporting the arrest of other Internet writers and, according to HRW, tortured and held for 88 days in solitary confinement. On January 27, he was released on $62,500 (50 million toman) bail. He started another Internet site but was detained again, and his bail tripled, which he could not pay. His trial in May was held behind closed doors; he was sentenced to two years in prison for insulting Khomeini and the supreme leader and charged with apostasy. He was later acquitted of apostasy but remained in Rajai'i Shahr prison.

Even those bloggers who are not arrested are constantly harassed and intimidated, called in for questioning.