Call for independent probe into imprisoned blogger's death a week ago

Reporters Without Borders calls for an independent enquiry into the death of the young blogger Omidreza Mirsayafi (http://rooznegaar.blogfa.com) in detention on 18 March. Mirsayafi was hastily buried in Tehran's Behesht Zahar cemetery on 19 March without an autopsy being carried out. In a bid to find out how he died, his family has brought a complaint against the officials in charge of Evin prison, where he was held. “The authorities took advantage of the family's grief and distress to bury Mirsayafi without an autopsy,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We insist on a full explanation of the circumstances of this young blogger's death in detention. We have been told that this is a case of homicide, in which case those responsible must be brought to trial and punished. We demand the creation of an independent commission of enquiry.” Reporters Without Borders has learned that, according to the forensic doctor, the Evin prison documents detailing the time of Mirsayafi's transfer to Loghman Hakim hospital and the time of his death contain irregularities. “The Evin prison authorities and the judiciary authority want now to portray Mirsayafi as ‘depressive and suicidal' but this new information suggests there was a failure to assist a person in danger. We believe the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression and the special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings should go as quickly as possible to Iran to investigate this case.” Reporters Without Borders urged the Tehran authorities in vain on 18 March to allow independent forensic doctors to carry out an autopsy, as his lawyer, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, had requested. A Tehran revolutionary court sentenced Mirsayafi on 15 December to two years in prison for “insulting leaders of the Islamic Republic” and six months in prison for “propaganda against the government” in the entries he had posted on his blog. He began serving the sentences following his arrest in Tehran on 7 February. His lawyers never received a copy of the court's sentences. On 26 march 2009, Reporters Without Borders publishes the last letter Omidreza Mirsayafi sent to the organization before his detention (read it).