Iranian blogger “commits suicide” in prison

March 20, 2009, 3:30 am · 0 comments

This is a tragic story. But let it serve as a chilling warning that the internet must remain free. Let’s just let the people who broke the story explain it in their own words:

Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, a 29-year old Iranian blogger and journalist died in Evin Prison in Tehran on March 18. In December, he was sentenced to two and half years in prison for allegedly insulting religious leaders, and engaging in propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Mir Sayafi was still awaiting an additional trial for insulting Islam.
According to the Human Rights activists in Iran website, Omid Reza suffered from deep depression in jail and was prescribed medications of which he apparently took too many. Dr. Hesam Firouzi, a jailed doctor and human rights activist says he urged prison authorities to send Omid Reza to a hospital outside prison but that prison doctors refused, and would not perform even basic tests.
A campaign has been launched in Facebook to “Hold Iran Responsible for Death of Blogger Mirsayafi in Prison”.
Blogger Mojtaba Saminejad says Omid Reza had communicated to him two days before his death that he would possibly be allowed to exit the prison in the coming days to visit a hospital. The blogger says he was led to expect better news than this.

Omid Reza said his blog was cultural and it was not his intention to insult anyone. The attached video is called “Iran: A Nation of Bloggers.”

No funny closing comments on this one. Our sympathies go out to Reza’s friends and family. And our best wishes to other Iranian bloggers currently being held in other Iranian prisons.

Source: Global Voices, Iran: A Nation of Bloggers

Tagged as: blogger, iranian, Omid Reza, Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, propoganda, suicide, Tehran

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Iranian blogger “commits suicide” in prison

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