Are You Dying to Express Your Opinion? Move to Iran!

A Jailed Fellow Blogger in Iran Dies

    * Omid Mir Sayafi, reported to be in his 20s, dies in Evin prison
    * Sayafi was a blogger who allegedly insulted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
    * Lawyer says semi-conscious Sayafi was taken to doctor but didn’t get proper care
    * Rights group reports prison doctor said blogger had taken extra medicine doses

by John P. Allen, General Manager of VeteransToday.com

On VeteransToday.com we have many writers who express many views.  Some of these opinions are outrageous coming from both the right and left fields with some of them bordering on crazy and insolent.  Freedom requires us to debate, discuss, critic, pan, and mock.  Without this discourse, we would not be able to claim freedom in a free society.

As one of our brethren in Iran found out, freedom is precious and it can get you killed.  You see, a young blogger arrested in Iran for allegedly insulting supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an Internet posting has died in prison, his attorney said Friday.

Attorney Mohammad Ali Dadkhah said Omid Mir Sayafi, reported to be in his 20s, died in Evin prison, which is located in Tehran and known for its wing that holds political prisoners.

Dadkhah said a fellow inmate, Dr. Hessam Firouzi, called him Wednesday night with the news — and said he believed Sayafi would have lived if he received proper medical care.

Dadkhah said Firouzi, an imprisoned human-rights activist, said that he carried a semi-conscious Sayafi to a prison doctor but that he didn’t receive the care he needed.

"It was Dr. Firouzi’s opinion that if he would’ve received proper medical attention, he would not have died," Dadkhah said.

He said Sayafi was buried on Thursday and that his calls to the prison asking for an explanation have not been returned.

Dadkhah said Sayafi "sounded OK" at about 2 p.m. on Wednesday when he last spoke to him by telephone. He said the blogger asked for a book about Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, which begins Friday.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, which advocates for activists in the country, quoted Firouzi on its Web site as saying Sayafi suffered from depression and had taken extra doses of medication on Wednesday.

The group blamed Iran’s government for unsafe conditions in its prisons.

"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," said Hadi Ghaemi, spokesman for the campaign. "If the authorities do not move quickly to hold negligent officials responsible, they are reinforcing impunity and the lack of accountability."

Sayafi was first arrested in April, then released for 41 days before being arrested again. He was sentenced to 2½ years in prison for comments on a blog that his lawyer argued was intended only for a few friends to read.

In the end, I personally hope that we all respect and defend one’s right to have an opinion; to disagree but not be disagreeable.  To critic our sitting President and our other elected politicians without fear of imprisonment or death is a true freedom that’s worth fighting for and if you’re living in Iran, apparently worth dying for.