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Imprisoned Iran blogger commits suicide in custody

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Iranian blogger Omidreza Mirsayafi reportedly committed suicide Wednesday after serving one month of a 30-month prison sentence for insulting Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Both the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHR) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reported that Mirsayafi had been suffering from depression, with ICHR reporting that Mirsayafi had taken an excess of medication. Human Rights Activists in Iran reported that another inmate at the Evin prison, Dr. Hesam Firouzi, provided first-aid and took Mirsayafi to the prison ward nurse's station, where he was denied medical treatment. The ICHR has called for Iran's judiciary to investigate the death, with spokesperson Hadi Ghaemi saying, "Iranian leaders have relegated the administration of the prison system to a group of incompetent and cruel officials who are showing their utter disregard for human life." While print journalists have long been imprisoned for producing unfavorable reports, the advent of blogging has resulted in a new group subject to sanctions for their reporting. In January, Chinese blogger Chen Qitang was sentenced to 30 months in prison for making disparaging remarks about the government. In September, the Singapore Supreme Court sentenced US blogger Gopalan Nair to three months in jail for insulting a judge. In February 2007, Egyptian blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil was sentenced to four years in prison for insulting Islam and causing sectarian strife.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on March 20, 2009 (boomark / email).