Profile on Irani Blogger Omidreza Mirsayafi

Earlier, we reported on the death of Irani blogger Omidreza Mirsayafi, who in March became the first death of a blogger in Iran, a culmination of strife and friction between critical bloggers and the intimidating Irani regime. Now, more details on the life and death of this blogger have come to light.

What scares most analysts is that Mirsayafi was not a prominent blogger; in fact, he was far from it. The possibility for any Irani blogger to be captured without notice by the the Irani authorities has never been higher. From the article:

"Omidreza was just an ordinary blogger," said Farhad Moradian, an Iranian Jewish emigre to Israel who writes a blog from Tel Aviv. "This is the big alarm."

Mirsayafi started his blog in 2006 as an online diary chronicling Irani life and pop-culture. Eventually, he became interested in politics on his blog as well. Many say he crossed the line in a June 2007 post where he condemned the memory of the late Islamic Revolution leader Ayatollah Khomeini.

He was arrested on April 22, 2008 and eventually released on bail. In November, he was brought before the Revolutionary Court and sentenced to 30 months in jail. Though he was told he could remain free while he attempted to appeal the charges, he was picked up again in February of this year and remained in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison until his death on March 18 due to an overdose of prison-supplied tranquilizers.