Iranian Blogger Reported Dead in Prison
Omid Reza Misayafi, one of a number of Iranian bloggers arrested for "insulting" the government and religious authorities in that country, is dead. Misayafi's death was reported on Global Voices Online via an Iranian human rights site in Farsi and we learned of it from The Committee to Protect Bloggers.
No cause of death is yet known, but the Committee says torture of bloggers is common in Iran and they are usually placed in close proximity to the most dangerous criminals in any facility. Misayafi was sentenced in December to 30 months in prison "for insulting Islamic Republic Leaders." The man said he was a cultural blogger, not a political one, and only wrote a few satirical articles that got him into trouble.
An update tonight indicates that the prison conditions may have led the man to take his own life. Directly or indirectly, it appears that Misayafi's life has been brought to an end for exercising free speech, for criticizing an authoritarian state and for doing it using online social media. Social media users and advocates around the world should take note of this event.
We've reported here on a number of bloggers imprisoned in Iran and in Egypt for documenting government abuses or just writing critical words about governments that demand total compliance. In the middle of last year we wrote about Iran's parliament debating legislation that would add the death penalty to the list of possible punishments for using blogs to challenge government authority.
It is a timeless battle all around the world between freedom, art and self expression on one side and authority, expediency and abuse on the other. The rise of the web has made that battle different, though. Blogs give a voice to the previously voiceless, and the historical and moral importance of efforts to save those new voices from arrest, torture and death cannot be overstated.
We would love to see the Obama administration, which has made extensive use of online social media, publicly and explicitly condemn this death at the Iranian government's hands. We'd be surprised if that happened.
Social media is powerful and changing the world; we don't expect that this will be the last person to lose their life over it. Omid Reza Misayafi, brave Iranian blogger, may you rest in peace. May all those imprisoned for blogging in Iran, and around the world, be set free.
For ongoing coverage of this and all-too similar situations around the world, see The Committee to Protect Bloggers and associated organizations linked to on their site.
Share
Facebook
Comments
Subscribe to comments for this post OR Subscribe to comments for all ReadWriteWeb posts
Thanks for raising this issue. Imagine being imprisoned for making a political joke, thinking out loud, disagreeing with those in power. It is little consolation to his family, but Misayafi and his fellow bloggers who operate in a climate of severe risk are destined for the history books.
"The Committee to Protect Bloggers"
I mean come on... that this guy did it on a blog is incidental. You're talking about countries that will treat people like this for just saying a joke to the wrong person.
Is there really a need for a group just to protect bloggers? I mean there are much larger efforts struggling to protect people's right to dissent at much larger levels.
James, did you watch the video in this post? Blogging is changing the political landscape around the world by giving people a public voice that didn't have one before. That's important to defend.
James - I understand where you're coming from, but my view is don't bother getting hung up on semantics.
In your mind, just replace "Bloggers" with "Free Speech" and you'll feel better about it. :)
passing the news to fellow bloggers... "we can control the media easily, but not the bloggers..." mindset
It's sad to know that our fellow blogger died there. :(
I'm saddened to hear that a fellow blogger has been killed by his government for speaking out. Political speech by bloggers is hugely important to the process of democracy. Why? MSM news is controlled and managed. Blogs are not.
We are all born on earth with EQUAL rights to live and foolish men, with intentions for greed and power, seek to strong arm their way to suppress those who don't agree with THEIR ways. It is intolerable because NO ONE is above another. And this is God's intention, that we all live together on this Earth to LOVE each other and HELP each other, not participate in wars, suppression and destruction (in the name of God). We must all stand up to those who seek to oppress freedom of expression. We all have the right to make our own decisions in our belief systems on this Earth. The bloggers in Iran are courageous heroes to stand up for their rights and we should all give support to their cause. It is a shame to Iran what has happened to this man and the others they are imprisoning in like manners.
God bless all the blogger's who are in the Iranian prisons.
We should all be glad we live in a free country to say what
we feel about our government and the people running it.
It is a freedom that so many take for granted
What a horror it would be to live in a country such as Iran,
Syria, Saudi Arabia. There run by Radical Islamic Religious
Clerc's. Shiite Law is based on their Islamic Religion.
FREEDOM of any kind is forbidden in these countries.
Any one born there knows that, this guy was murdered in prison. They killed him, as they do the same, to other political positions and always try to cover it up with excuses
I am suprised Iran has not been blown away yet by the US but hey whatever right. USA USA USA
These communist countries with stupid insane rules need to be FORCED to become free at all costs.. These are the nuts that will eventually cause WW3. Iran, North Korea Russia and those are just the biggest headaches. Its time to eliminate these regimes of ignorance and freedom for ALL...
Its outrageous to kill someone for expressing their opinion! Wasn't Iran a democratic nation? Wasn't that the reason, why they resisted the brute Shah?
What happened to all those freedom fighters who were fighting for freedom in the first place? This is what freedom means.....
It seems they just came out of a deep well and fell into another dark trench!
As an American, I am appalled at totalitarian regimes that murder opposition.
As an American, I am appalled that James thinks the solution to these countries is to blow them to hell.
I'm sorry--what? Iran is a Communist country? Since when? Wanna lay a $1000 bet on that? When ignorance and belligerence get together we have what USA NUMBER ONE rants on about. Exactly how, oh, wise one, are we going to eliminate these threat-to-freedom regimes? With an overstretched army that can't make recruitment goals? With a bankrupt country and the biggest deficit in world history? You'd think after a disastrous invasion of Iraq, based on lies, corruption, no-bid contracts, nepotism and loony right-wing ideology we'd learn to look before we leap. But, no, here we have people like USA NUMBER ONE who want to start a war with everybody including Russia which is only the 2nd most militarily powerful country on earth. You know, USA NUMBER ONE, it's never good to start drinking before breakfast. Yeah, Iran is a crappy country and it does terrible things. But there's a lot of crappy countries out there and we can't invade them all. Certainly we don't want to invade the crappy countries that are our good allies, fine nations like Islamo-fascist Uzbekistan, for instance. Let's try diplomacy and acting like a role model for a change instead of the drunken bully in the parking lot swinging a broken beer bottle and challenging everyone. I wonder how that ends up.
I love Marshall Kirkpatrick's statement: "We would love to see the Obama administration, which has made extensive use of online social media, publicly and explicitly condemn this death at the Iranian government's hands. We'd be surprised if that happened."
Really? Obama is the callous one? This is somehow Obama's fault? By what logic? We had eight years of George Bush who made human rights--at home and abroad--just about the lowest priority of his administration. Oh, but now Marshall Kirkpatrick works up the courage to criticize Obama for some perceived lack of attention to this issue? If Bush hadn't militarized the entire region with a useless war maybe, just maybe, these crazy ayatollahs would have been fading away instead of gaining power. Right. Obama is the problem. Jeez.
The position taken by the Iranian government against free speech is appalling! The right to express yourself is guaranteed even by God! To hell with religious extremism and totalitarianism which seeks to induce fear and hate. To our brithers and sisters in Iran and other countries alike keep up the good work. Its a long and difficult journey but be assured, we will get there!
Here's Shirley from above--"What a horror it would be to live in a country such as Iran,Syria, Saudi Arabia. There run by Radical Islamic Religious Clerc's. Shiite Law is based on their Islamic Religion."
FYI to Shirley. A)Syria is not a country ruled by Islamic Clerics. Not even Islamic "Clerc's" as you call them, presumably Islamics who work at 7-11. An example of a country ruled by Islamic clerics would be our fine ally, Pakistan. Not one of the people who flew those planes into the World Trade Towers or the Pentagon came from Iran, Iraq or Syria. They did come from our fine allies Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan. With friends like that...
B)There's no such thing as as "Shiite Law". You must be thinking of Sharia Law. I'm not a huge fan of Sharia Law either--but on the other hand some of it is more just and fair than our own legal code. Under Sharia Law, AIG wouldn't be handing out $165 million of tax payer money as bonuses to the swine who helped wreck our economy.
No wonder so many people on these boards want to invade and destroy half the world on the pretext of saving it. They can't even get basic facts right. Their appalling ignorance allows clever politicians to manipulate their deepest prejudices.
A man died. Quit bickering.
I is true that you actually get more accurate info from bloggers who back up their statements with facts and sources that are real. Even in the West the MSM follows the "party"line. the only place where you can be reasonably sure is online. It is the one place where people can say what they really think. I pay little attention to MSM anymore. I think that if the West is not careful we will lose our rights to free speech to political correctness. There truly is menace to freedom everywhere. Bloggers must protect their identity regardless of where they are. This death is the extreme and very sad example of what can happen,but don't for a moment think that you are safe if you are not from one of those terrible oppressive countries. It is a fight we are all in. We ignore it at our peril. My thoughts are for him,his family,friends and fellows.
Obama just had to publicly apologize for his "special olympics" comment on Jay Leno's show the other night. The man is steeped in PC. Don't expect him to come to the rescue any time soon!
BTW, by definition Iran is a fascistic theocracy.
"We would love to see the Obama administration, which has made extensive use of online social media, publicly and explicitly condemn this death at the Iranian government's hands. We'd be surprised if that happened."
And here is the sad answer:
Obama offers Iran 'the promise of a new beginning'
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/03/20/obama.iran.video/index.html?iref=newssearch
A very informative article, and an amazing video. thanks for your excellent writing, and thanks to whoever created the video.