Friday, November 3, 2006; A25

Explore the relatively unpoliced wilderness of cyberspace and hear thousands of voices from or about countries where traditional news outlets lack independence. Irreverent, imaginative or purely informative, the blogs below share little in common beyond use of the English language, an authentic local perspective and a stab in favor of free expression. And the odd masked persona.

http://www.manalaa.net/

Even before Alaa Ahmed Seif al-Islam, one-half of the team behind the award-winning Manal and Alaa's Bit Bucket, was arrested for attending a protest and started blogging from his jail cell, he and his wife, Manal, were making waves as pro-democracy activists and facilitators for the Egyptian blogging community. Islam was released in June.

http://mahmood.tv/

Mahmood's Den, by Mahmood al-Yousif, is one of the most politically active and influential blogs in the Persian Gulf region. It was blocked in Bahrain this week for violating a reporting gag order, but after a massive online petitioning campaign, authorities agreed to unblock access -- provided that Yousif adhere to the gag order. Yousif also sells buttons on his site: "No Shi'i, No Sunni; Just Bahraini!"

http://www.zonaeuropa.com/

On his site EastSouthWestNorth, blogger Roland Soong of Hong Kong aggregates vast amounts of material from Chinese news media and posts it quickly. Although the stories he picks up can seem narrow in theme -- and sometimes bizarre -- they speak volumes about today's China.

http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe

A group blog that "aims to put a human voice to the tragedy, and the beauty, that is our country and community," the graphically stunning Sokwanele, which translates as "Enough Is Enough," provides intelligent political commentary and a platform for Zimbabweans of all stripes to post their often poignant musings.

http://www.walterlippmann.com/

That rarest of creatures, a blog that pops onto the Internet from Havana. Walter Lippmann, an American photographer and artist, offers up a heavy dose of pro-Fidel Castro stuff. Although he sometimes posts from Los Angeles, it's in Cuba where Lippmann produces the real gems: photos of the country and its leaders. The site is a bit disorganized and updates are sporadic, but it includes a link to a Yahoo group where Lippmann posts Cuba news frequently.

http://mystiquesa.blogspot.com/

Full of feminist poetry, provocative images of veiled women and short stories long on sexual content, The Emancipation of Mystical Thoughts is a showcase for the personal frustrations of a woman in Saudi Arabia. Its 24-year-old Jiddah-based female author goes by the nom-de-Web Mystique.

http://www.hoder.com/weblog

If a single person can be credited with enabling thousands of Iranians to vent online, the laurels fall to Hossein Derakhshan, an Iranian journalist who created a step-by-step guide to blogging in Persian in 2001 shortly after leaving Iran for Canada. Derakhshan's savvy English and Persian blogs are among the most read by Iranians and Iranophiles at home or expatriated.

http://www.jeffooi.com/

Jeff Ooi's provocative Screenshots has been called the most influential blog in Malaysia. Its embattled author -- subjected to police questioning in 2004 over a reader's message deemed critical of Islam -- challenges Malaysia's media to head into less timorous waters.

http://www.tolblogs.org/belarus/en

Online magazine Transitions Online, which covers the former Soviet bloc, hosts an innovative group blog on Europe's "last dictatorship." It features much informed coverage of human rights and politics, with the odd comment on the "gross habits of a wedding afterparty in the post-Soviet world" or the like.

-- Delphine Schrank and Jason Ukman