Iranian Blogger Jailed for Khamenei Insult Dies in Tehran Prison

An Iranian blogger who was thrown into Tehran's notorious Evin Prison, where American citizen Roxana Saberi is imprisoned as we speak, has died. Prison officials are calling it a suicide.

A young Iranian blogger was ]jailed in Tehran's notorious Evin prison for saying supreme Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has died, his lawyer told AFP on Thursday. Mohammad Ali Dadkhah said that although there is not yet an official report about the death on Wednesday of Omid Mir Sayafi, "officials in the prison said that he committed suicide." He demanded "an immediate inquiry and an autopsy into why he died." The blogger, aged around 25, was sentenced in February to 30 months in jail for insulting Khamenei and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic. Sayafi was first arrested in April last year and released on bail after 41 days before being detained again this year. From Drudge, via Breitbart.com:

Dadkhah said another prisoner in Evin, a Dr Hessam Firouzi, "had warned officials in the jail of the state the young blogger was in. "Dr Firouzi called me from the jail to say Omid had a slowed heartbeat and he had taken him to the infirmary, but that doctors there did not take this seriously and said he was faking it," Dadkhah said. He added Firouzi reported that Sayafi had also been very depressed.

Iran has launched a crackdown on bloggers and Internet users deemed to be hostile to the authorities and their Islamic values.

Surprised? I'm not. This is who they are. Just look. That's all. Just look. More of my in-depth coverage on Islamist Iran and the Roxana Saberi Hostage Crisis here. An Iranian blogger dying for what we do here every day. What a sad day for freedom.