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 [fa] 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 [fa] 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.
In an interview [fa] with Human Rights activists in Iran a few days before going to prison, Omid Reza said his blog was a cultural blog and not intended to be insulting.
Here is a video once filmed by Omid Reza in Tehran. It is the funeral of Iranian archeologist and academic Parviz Varjavand.
[...] in Iran. Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, Iranian blogger Dies in Prison. In December, he was sentenced to two and half years in prison for allegedly insulting religious [...]
posted on March 19th, 2009 at 1:41 pm - #15189[...] What:Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, an Iranian blogger, died tragically in prison on March 18, demonstrating the sad fact that a blogger’s life can be lost as easily as a blog can be filtered by authorities. [...]
posted on March 22nd, 2009 at 3:13 pm - #15211[...] Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, de 29 años, blogger y periodista iraní, murió en la prisión de Evin, en Teherán el 18 de marzo. En diciembre, fue condenado a dos años y medio de prisión por “supuestamente” insultar a dirigentes religiosos, y participar en la propaganda contra la República Islámica de Irán a través de su blog. [...]
posted on March 24th, 2009 at 9:30 am - #15251[...] a contar la historia de Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, de 29 años. Era un blogger y periodista iraní que escribía sobre temas culturales, que se [...]
posted on March 27th, 2009 at 11:43 am - #15283[...] What:Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, an Iranian blogger, died tragically in prison on March 18, demonstrating the sad fact that a blogger’s life can be lost as easily as a blog can be filtered by authorities. [...]
posted on March 31st, 2009 at 10:22 pm - #15344[...] Liberté, Liberdade – Ainda que tardia 06Jun09 Liberdade de expressão. Liberdade de dizer o que se passa na mente, de ter direito a expressão, de falar o que se sente. Vinda de um país onde a liberdade de expressão é relativamente garantida – e até um pomposo direito constitucional – é apenas por meio de sites como o Global Voices Advocacy que eu fico sabendo que um blogueiro na Tanzânia foi preso por manipular uma simples fotografia. Ou que no Egito, blogueiros que reportam problemas ambientais estão sujeitos ao pagamento de multa. E queno Iran, outro dia, um blogueiro morreu na prisão. [...]
posted on June 6th, 2009 at 11:53 am - #17419