Friday, March 20, 2009

Death Of A Blogger

That repressive regimes around the world should suppress dissent & debate is merely to acknowledge the obvious. However, it's worth highlighting the death of an Iranian blogger while serving a two-and-a-half year jail sentence "for posting comments on his blog about figures including the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khatamenei, and the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeni." (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/20/omidreza-mirsayafi-iran-blogger-rouznegar ).
Omidreza Mirsayafi, whose blog Rouznegar dealt mainly with musical & cultural matters, died from a drug overdose little more than a month into his sentence. He had apparently attempted suicide before.
At a time when the new US administration is, correctly, attempting to revise its dealings with the regime in Tehran (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/20/barack-obama-sends-video-message-iran ), it is worth remembering cases such as this.

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