In Memory of Omidreza Mirsayafi

On Wednesday, I got the news that Omidreza Mirsayafi, Iranian blogger and new friend of mine, had passed away in prison in Iran. He was arrested last April, tried last November, and detained in February following an interrogation. On December 21, I wrote a piece for the Huffington Post entitled "Blogging in Iran: A Dangerous Prospect." Two days later, Omidreza e-mailed me, beginning an all too brief friendship through e-mail. His e-mail was short and sweet. He thanked me for caring: "When I see your post on the mentiond [sic] website, I became so happy that a journalist in other corner of world writes about the situations of Iranians journalist & bloggers and is concerned about us." He invited me to "have a dialogue" with him.

Omidreza Mirsayafi was you. He was me. He would send me articles on things like Iran's Environmental Arts Festival, or the rituals of the Kurds in Iran. We only chatted a few times, mostly about his sadness. He wanted me to help him with media coverage. I tried, and I didn't really succeed; for one, few Western outlets were interested, and for another, after consulting with friends more experienced in such matters, they felt that too much coverage might do damage to his case. In the end, he was called in for interrogation anyway and imprisoned without explanation. On February 6, the day before he was taken in, he tried chatting me up; I was away from my desk, or busy, I didn't respond. That will forever haunt me, as will the thought that I didn't do all I could. In fear of looking like I was playing hero, I instead laid low, hoping that silence was the key to not aggravating the powers that be. In the end, I was probably wrong.

But this isn't about me, and as I've been reminded so much over the past few days, I was not the only one who remained silent. But first they come for the Iranian bloggers...

It wasn't the first time he'd been imprisoned; In 2000 he spent twenty days in the infamous Evin Prison, a twenty days which he said felt like twenty years. Three years ago, he wrote in his own blog (translated from the original Persian):

Instead of bending and unbending in prayers for a God dwelling cozily in the seventh heaven I learned to be an insignificant meek person who for the entire world would not take a whit worth of dirty money. I learned that I am the creator and the created. I learned that the salvation is not achieved by wandering through the primrose path of sticking to the dogmas and the preordained codes. But it is in having faith in the dignity, nobility and liberty of the human beings. I learned that humans are not a bunch of weak slaves or debilitated beings, but they are commanding and free agents who can create whatever they wish. I learned that I have to learn in order to set myself free. I learned to unlearn whatever I had learned earlier in my life and found my thoughts on a firm and correct base from the scratch. I learned I had been moving on the wrong track for 20 years. I learned I could be born again in any way I'd want to.

Omidreza was you. He was me. He was each one of us who dares speak our minds. He simply was born in the wrong country, at the wrong time, and chose the wrong day to write about something he believed in.

The world has lost one genuine soul, one true believer. We must stand together to prevent this from ever happening again.

Comments

[Usama]

What a growing number of Muslims around the world seek is NOT represented by Iran, or Saudia, or Pakistan, or Taliban, or any nation or state today. Neither are the plethora of anecdotal cases throughout the world representative of the implementation of Islam.

Anti tazi, you should know that the Prophet Muhammad (saaw) himself permitted young women to object to marrying men their father's forced on them. He also held a high level of proof for evidence of adultery- 4 reliable witnesses actually seeing the act. And pregnancy was not such a proof.

Even if you actually represented good for the Muslim people of the world in your crusade for secular humanism and Western democratic values to supercede Islam, the reality is that Dr Jekyll is partnered with the Mr Hyde of Capitalism: imperial globalization. Even if there are unjust cases prosecuted in Iran, and there are because they are humans, Democratic Capitalism is advancing a world order which is sure to enslave billions to global financial industries, corporations that control water rights, seeds, trade. Omid didn't deserve to die mysteriously in an Iranian prison, but he did. Its a tragedy for his family most of all. Meanwhile, American and Western firms are eying Iranian oil for themselves and using any excuse to support rebellion, chaos, and destabilization in Iran.

[anti-tazi]

Islam is what Islam does. I know Islam too well. I was born into a muslim family. I've read Koran and the Haidth, and what I know of Islam is very disturbing. It was disturbing to me when I was 12 years old,--which was many years ago before the advent of political Islam--learning about it in my relgious studies and it is disturbing to me now.

[Usama]

"Islam is what Islam does"? That's nonsensical. Islam is based on TWO primary sources: the Holy Quran and the Prophet Muhammad (saaw). The Prophet is the one who best exemplifies the Quran. There is no nation or society that exemplifies or represents the implementation of Islam today or meets the minimal legal requirements of being representative of Islam, period.

Just as a person can misunderstand Islam by taking a verse from the Quran out of context and inconsistent with the example of the Prophet Muhammad (saaw), so can a person misunderstand Islam by taking a hadith out of context or misunderstanding it.

I would gladly test my knowledge of Islam against yours, anti-tazi. If some nation or person exists perpetrating and supporting corruption, debauchery, villiany, greed, the dehumanization of man and woman, the desecration of animal life, the desecration of God's creation, which includes earth, then yes: God's revelation will frighten that nation or that person.

[anti-tazi]

Usama: This is what's happening under your non-secular, non-US backed theocracy:

http://www.meydaan.org/English/default.aspx

http://www.meydaan.org/English/wwShow.aspx?wwid=1027

http://meydaan.org/English/showarticle.aspx?arid=299

[anti-tazi]

to Usama:

Cultural relativism * In Germany, in August 1997, an 18-year-old woman was burnt to death by her father for refusing to marry the man he had chosen. A German court gave him a reduced sentence, saying he was practicing his culture and religion.

* In Iran, women and girls are forcibly veiled under threat of imprisonment and lashes, and cultural relativists say that it is their religion and must be respected.

*Cultural relativism serves these crimes. It legitimizes and maintains savagery. It says that people's rights are dependent on their nationality, religion, and culture. It says that the human rights of someone born in Iran, Iraq, or Afghanistan are different from those of someone born in the United States

Cultural relativists say Iranian society is Muslim, implying that people choose to live the way they are
If it's the entire society's culture and religion, why does the Islamic regime need such extensive tools for repression?
If it's people's beliefs, why does the regime control their private lives - from their sexual activities, to what video they watch, to what music they listen ?

why did Zoleykhah Kadkhoda enter a voluntary relationship for which she was buried in a ditch and stoned? If it is people's culture, why did the residents of Bukan revolt against the stoning and save her life? Why are thousands of women rounded up in the streets for "improper" veiling if its their culture and religion?
http://maryamnamazie.com/articles/cultural_relativism_foe_of_critical_thought.html

[Usama]

Omid wasn't me either. There are 1000s of devout Muslims who die as political prisoners in prisons of secular regimes like Egypt, Algeria, etc. They are remembered by families and friends but don't receive a thing from Western media. In fact Western media, like their governments, wink at the oppressive secular regimes that serve American and European interests.
This lament is part of an ideological crusade, a colonial jihad by Western powers to finish their colonization of the Muslim world. Islam is not just a standard religion which fits in secular classifications. Islam is a complete way of life with its own political system, economic system, judicial system, social system. It existed in this way of life for over 1200 years until Europe began its crusade of capitalist colonization, invading, exploiting resources, conquering and dividing peoples. Omidreza words presented by Ms York appear to be a lost soul, blathering about himself in existential illogic. His assumption that Islam is somehow contrary to allowing the individual to being proactive, shaping events, is patently false. Moreover, I sincerely question if Miss York sufficiently represents Mr Mirsayafi beliefs before he died . Is she only portraying him consistent with her own beliefs and crusade?

[Jillian York - Huffpost Blogger]

Usama,

I'm sure that I cannot accurately represent his beliefs; I only knew him for a few short months, and only across the wires of the Internet. But having read his blog in translation and spoken with family members, I feel fairly certain that I did his beliefs justice the best that I could for how little I knew him. I did not represent him consistent with just my beliefs, that's not what I do.

For the record, I have also fought on behalf of members of the Muslim Brotherhood imprisoned for blogging. I defend free speech, regardless of what that speech is (although I would not put my focus toward pornographic speech or violent speech, I would not entirely overlook such cases either if they had some sort of strong value or were personal to me somehow). I don't have a particular religious agenda; my agenda is to promote free speech, as was Omidreza's in many ways.

I don't crusade against any regime: take 5 minutes to google my name and you'd know that. My problem is with the inability to speak out for what you believe in, whatever it might be.

How can you possibly step in so briefly and assume you know more than I do?

Jillian

[anti-tazi]

Yes you did represent his beliefs, eloquently. I have read his writings in Persian and listened to his sister ; rest assured, you've done a great job.

Some people are just afraid of the truth.

[Usama]

Jillian, perhaps you knew Omidreza. In any case, your piece is within a larger geo-political context which is adversarial, confrontational, militant, ideological. Whether you are aware of it or not, America is trying to overthrow the Iranian regime, so says this Congressional Act of 2005 http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ293.109 . Ironically, Iran has a form of 'democracy'. The problem is it doesn't comply with American standards. This and succeeding Congressional acts implore sanctions on Iran- itself an act of war (though many nations refrain from acting militarily).
Credible media reports reveal that America and Israel are engaging in low level warfare actions against Iran, including supporting insurgency & rebel groups, infiltrating Iranian airspace and territory for espionage, sabotage, kidnapping, assasinations. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/29/seymour-hersh-exposes-new_n_109818.html
My question is: would Omidreza support an American/Israeli supported rebellion inside Iran? Because within this context, the last words of your piece are " [w]e must stand together to prevent this from ever happening again" means more than just protesting.

[anti-tazi]

Campaign against Sharia law in Europe

European law and Human rights in Europe is beginning to bend to the thuggish force of Political Islam. We fled from it, but it has come to us. It is time to stand-up. Please watch this Youtube clip and make up your mind. Sign the Campaign petition

www.onelawforall.org.uk

Please read Maryam Namazie's article on cultural relativism:
Cultural relativism, racism and 'Islamophobia'
Condeming Islam is not racism!
Rights trump culture and religion
It's not relative
Freedom of expression - no ifs, ands or buts
Islamophobia: No can do
Cultural Relativism: a foe of critical thought
Racism, cultural relativism and women's rights
Cultural relativism - this era's fascism

http://maryamnamazie.com/articles/artspch.html

[jan4insight]

"None of us is free so long as others are oppressed."

So true.

[Usama]

One of the most oppressive regimes in the world is the Egyptian regime. It's run on emergency martial law for almost 30 years yet continues to recieve billions in foreign aid. According to the book Power, Faith and Fantasy by Michael Oren, America supported/orchestrated a coup which led to the Free Officers Movement (FOM) to overthrow the British installed monarch. The FOM included Nasser and Anwar Sadat, the first two rulers of independent Egypt. Hosni Mubarak was hand picked by Anwar Sadat as his vice president. Mubarak has run Egypt since 1981. According to Oren, America used Egypt as its launch pad to influence and power in the Middle East. The largest Arab populated nation, control of Egypt allows for control of the Arab world. America has used Egypt in this light and needs Egypt to be subservient in order to retain its dominion over the region, ecspecially for Israel's sake.

This lament over one man in Iran is really Ms York's distortion of the reality of the Middle East. America supports oppressive regimes like Egypt. America protects Israel's continued war crimes. And most relevant, American Neo Cons see Iranian oil, gas, mineral resources as well as reformation of Iran as a potential windfall for America's nationbuilding industry.

[anti-tazi]

Usama: I think your problem is not wit hthe Opression and brutality of the US backed Secular regimes in the Arab world. Your main beef is with who delivers those violent acts. In your world view, when Islam stones, oppresses is for the sake of Allah and the ummah, therefore, it's a good thing, isn't it?


Pathetic and shameful.

Islamic Imperialism
A History
http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=0300106033

[Abd-ul-Latif]

"Omidreza was you. He was me." Well, he wasn't ME. Maybe Americans are not so homogeneous as you think? The Constitution is all well and good for the USA, but that's not where he was, he was in Iran, a Muslim country--and he was openly peddling apostasy on the internet. Not smart. To give you a little context, apostasy is the worst of all crimes in Islam--worse than murder. In America, his words would have been virtually a truism. In an Islamic country, they are the ultimate crime. Maybe people don't want to hear that, but it is the truth. Calling himself the "creator," saying people are independent from God, open denigration of Muslim prayers, and a general arrogance before God. To a Muslim all this is the ultimate horror. I know that none of you understand this and never will. Fine. But at least admit this man's stupidity for saying all this publicly on the internet.

[jamis]

"But at least admit this man's stupidity for saying all this publicly on the internet."

Why dont you admit the stupidity of people who believe they are slaves of an invisible Bi-Polar narcissistic space monster and we'll call it even.

"When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not care to support it, so that its professors are obliged to call for the help of the civil power, 'tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one."

[Ben Franklin, _Poor Richard's Almanac_, 1754 (Works, Volume XIII)]

[fbr79]

I read your post once and my immediate raection was to donate some more money to the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Recanting of a person's religion is still considered, despite efforts by the OIC, a human right by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

If enjoying the right to criticize a religion isn't you, maybe you should move to one of these medieval theocracies so not to have your sensibility offended.

[Jillian York - Huffpost Blogger]

And yet those weren't the words he died for. He died for his criticism of the Iranian regime; pretty sure Islam does not include nationalism, if I can remember my Qur'anic readings correctly...

[maddy48]

Thank you for this. I'm profoundly moved. Could I write to his family?

[anti-tazi]

After four years of prison, political prisoner Amir-Hossein Heshmat Saran in Karaj’s Gohardasht ‎prison complex died under suspicious circumstances last Friday March 6th apparently because of a ‎heart illness.‎

Given that it's Iranian new year, it makes it so much harder.


http://www.roozonline.com/english/archives/2009/03/amirhossein_saran_dies_in_pris.html

[JonSmiley]

What a profane thing to say that he was "born in the wrong country".

[balickistan]

the problem is the truth for what she says. the logic is that he is a martyr for a greater thing than any religion can be. the search for and the speaking of truth, especially to power. he seems to understand the limits of his society from which he was born, yet he decided to push the envelope. he called a spade a spade and for his strength, good kharma to his family.

[anti-tazi]

Thank you for this wonderful tribute. I heard his sister crying violently on a radio program. It's really disturbing that the world doesn't care.

A poem written in his memory:

http://iranian.com/main/2009/mar/child-mine

Appeal to savea prisoner of conscience in Iran:

Write to Iranian leaders to stop the execution of Farzad Kamangar, a 32 year old Kurdish teacher and social activist, sentenced to death following an unfair trial.

Go here:

http://www.iranhumanrights.org/themes/far-right-page/petition-to-protest-death-penalty-for-journalist.html


The following university students, labor activists, and writers are some of the known prisoners of conscience in Iran at this time, according to International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

http://www.iranhumanrights.org/


Keep an eye on them and demand their release by signing petitions circulating or by contacting the above link.

Yaser Torkman

Mehdi Mashayekhi

Ronak Safazadeh

Mansoor Osanloo

Alieh Eghdamdoust

Ahmad Ghasaban

Majid Tavakoli

Esmael Samanpour

Nariman Mostafavi

Mohammad Pourabdollah

Mohammad Sadiq Kaboudvand

Ayatollah Kazemini Boroujerdi

Shabnam Madadzadeh

Hossein Torkashvand

Abbas Khorsandi

Sanaz Allahyari

Kourosh Daneshvar

Abbas Hakimzadeh

Mehdi Noori

Massoud Samavatyan

Alireza Montazer

Habib Ghovati

Majid Alasti

Mehrdad Soori

Mohammad Reza Sediqi

Hasan Harischian

[aliceautumn]

Good people die in bad places. What a waste.

[Abd-ul-Latif]

He was not good person, by Muslim standards.

[Jillian York - Huffpost Blogger]

And Iran was not historically a Muslim country, what's your point? Iran has Jews, Zoroastrians, and others. He did not deserve to die based on his words.

[anti-tazi]

abd-ul-Latif:

Are you a Shia? Do you think the IRI butchers represents true Islam? What is a definition of "good muslim" by muslim standards? Please elaborate.

I'll be waiting for your response with anticipation.

[fbr79]

Who cares? He was good by Human standards.

[janmarie]

What about all the thousands of Palestinians in Israeli jails?

[redbeard20]

All innocent, I'm sure.

[Jillian York - Huffpost Blogger]

They concern me too. But this is about someone else.

[fbr79]

The question is, why are these Palestinians in jail? I think a list with names and reasons for imprisonment should be made public. I want to be able to have someone tell me that a guy who helped plan a bomb at a pizzaria or at a bus deserves the "freedom-fighter" label.

[curthopkins]

"...after consulting with friends more experienced in such matters, they felt that too much coverage might do damage to his case..."

I, and others who are involved in independent free speech matters, have heard this sort of advice many times. It seemed odd to me when I got it, so I spoke with a number of people who have been inside the interrogation rooms, the kinds of people that Omid was. To a person they said NO. The more attention, the more coverage, the more pressure, the better. The harassment and torture is the ground state of these places, not a result of attention - that's what the villains want you to think. You did what you thought you should do based on the information you solicited and I would never fault anyone for doing that. But my feeling is, the only people we should listen to are not the specialists, not the free speech professionals, but people like Omid.

[Jillian York - Huffpost Blogger]

And that's a decision I have to live with, I know.

[Bernardo Parrella]

thank you for sharing this, jillian - we are just humans, nobody here could have actually prevented that, unfortunately - yes, "Omidreza was you. He was me. He was each one of us who dares speak our minds."

i agree that, in these cases, the more attention, the more coverage in the west or anywhere, the better - so, let's not forget the other people in jail or similar situations, as outlined above

[henrywolff]

What a noble soul. We are lessened by his passing.