LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Paris Hilton is backing an online campaign to request California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issue a pardon following her 45-day prison sentence for driving on a suspended license.

In a blog posted on her MySpace homepage on Tuesday, Hilton urges fans to sign a petition being organized by a supporter calling for the socialite to be spared jail time.

The petition calls on Schwarzenegger to issue a pardon, claiming that she has been used as a scapegoat by authorities seeking to highlight the dangers of drink-driving.

The Hilton hotel heiress "provides hope for young people all over the US and the world. She provides beauty and excitement to (most of) our otherwise mundane lives," the petition reads.

She was handed her jail term on Friday after a court ruled she had broken her probation by twice driving while banned earlier this year following a conviction for drink-driving. Lawyers have said they will appeal the decision.