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Iran: Dr. Hesam Firouzi, Another Jailed Blogger

Categories: Middle East & North Africa, Iran, Citizen Media, Digital Activism, Governance, Human Rights, Humanitarian Response, Politics, Protest

hesamfirooziIt was jailed physician and blogger, Dr. Hesam Firouzi, who recently got the word out through his lawyer about the death of blogger Omid Reza Mir Sayafi [1] in Tehran's Evin Prison. He said he urged prison authorities to send the dying prisoner to a hospital, but they refused.

According to [2] Human Rights Watch, Hesam Firouzi has long been a trusted physician to political prisoners including Ahmad Batebi, Akbar Gangi, Ayatollah Burujirdi, AbolFazl Jahandar, the late Akbar Mohammadi, and many others.

His crimes, according to the 6th Branch of the Revolutionary Court in Iran, include activity against national security, the provocation of public opinion, the spreading of falsehood, providing shelter and medical treatment to political prisoners.

Firouzi is serving a 15-month sentence. He published [3] [fa] his last blog post shortly before being sent to jail. He wrote he wished for freedom for Iran and published a photo of his daughter.

Dr. Hesam Fioruzi's 7-year old daughter, Ava, wrote [4] [fa] the following poem addressed to the people who took her father to prison.

“We want the real world. This is not our real world because there are a lot of conflicts in it. Now it is 5 o'clock, down with torture. This poem is for interrogrators of my father because I do not want they arrest him again.”

Behzad Mehrani, a blogger and human rights activist, published [5] a letter to Ava in his own blog [fa]:

شاید در مدرسه به تو بیاموزند که زندان جای انسان های خطا کار است. به تو دروغ نگفته اند اما همه ی حقیقت را نیز نگفته اند. پدرت زندانی است چون انسانی شرافتمند است،

Maybe in school they teach you that prison is a place for people who did something wrong. They did not lie to you, but they did not explain truth either. Your father is a prisoner because he is an honorable man.

A petition has been launched [6] [en] to support Dr. Firouzi. Many bloggers, human rights activists, and student associations have already signed.

More than two years ago, Firouzi was jailed [7] for about three weeks, when he was accused of hiding an escaped political prisoner and giving interviews to foreign media.

After his release he shared [8] his prison experience in his blog in an open letter to government authorities. He wrote that he once found himself in a 15 to 20 square metre cell with 19 to 20 other prisoners. He said in some parts of the prison, drugs, especially crack, can be bought easily.